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I
c^.
V
HUNTING THE FOX
I
HUNTING THEFQX!
BY
LORD WnXOUGHBY DE BROKE
BOSTON AND NZW TOBK
HOUGHTON MnnjN COMPANY
» • ""
• • •
■\ \
Song shall declare a way
How to drive care away,
Pain and despair away,
Hunting the Fox!
EGBBTON WAmBUBTON.
525679
PREFACE
In offering these reflections to the public I wish
to disclaim any intention of laying down the law.
What I have written is derived from my own
experience as M.F.H., and from what I have tried
to learn from serving as an apprentice mider my
Father, whose Advice an Fax^Hunting was pub-
lished in 1906.
vli
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
Thefotmeof Foz-huntiiig " 1
CHAPTER II
Masters of Foidioands—To dig or not to dig?— Choice of
Hunt-servaats — Fanners' horses — Puppy walkers . 8
CHAPTER III
Masters of Foxhounds (oonHmud) — Cub^iunting— R^;ular
hunting — Control of the fileld — Drawing — Pace from
ootert to ooTert 19
CHAPTER IV
The Huntsman — Qualities required — Feeding, exercise, and
breaking SI
CHAPTER V
The Huntsman in the fidd--His i»oper position when hand*
ling Hounds— Dog language— A morning's Cub-hunting 39
ix
HUNTING THE FOX
CHAPTER VI
PACK
The Huntsmiui (eotUmued^lAyvag Hounds on to a tine —
Getting Hounds away from ooTert on a Fox ... 49
CHAPTER VII
The Huntsman in the open — Mr. Thomas Smith's patent cast
— ^Examples in practice — Some maxims about casting — A
sinking Fox 59
CHAPTER VIII
The importance of technique — The exercise of patience — The
loye of Foxhounds 73
CHAPTER IX
The Foxhound — Mr. Bany and Mr. Meynell — ^The modem
Foxhound — Foxhound Sho'^s — Rounding ... 86
CHAPTER X
Horse-breeding and the training of the young horse 99
CHAPTER XI
Riding to Hounds, and some advice to the Field . . .110
CHAPTER XII
Some sporting Writers 121
• ••*•••- • • •
• . . •«• • • . • •
CHAPTER I
THE 7UTUBE OF FOX-HUNTINO
When we declared war upon Germany in 1914,
many people thought, some perhaps hoped, that
Fox-himting in the British Isles was doomed. It
would appear that the former are likely to experi-
ence a pleasant shock of surprise, while the latter —
if there be any — ^may be disappointed. For the
immediate consequence of mobilization was the
recognition of Fox-hunting as a first-class national
asset. It is not too much to say that the Expedi-
tionary Force could not have left England unless
the nation could have drawn upon studs of well-
bred hunters to bring the Peace establishment of
Army horses up to war strength. Never were
Cavfklry so quickly or so well mounted as those
regiments of Regulars and Yeomanry who embarked
for France in August 1914.
But quite apart from the point of view of
national utility, Fox-hunting will surely survive
from its own innate qualities. The manner in
1 B
^ ; , . : .HTJBTING THE FOX
fWl^i^ii itbM liy^ tbrough all the obstacles of war
'iime is a slffi(3ieht testimony to its vitality. And
here let us pay our tribute to those who have
helped the sport through these critical times : to
the tact and sagacity of the Committee of the
M.F.H. Association, and above all to those who
through age, sex, or any other reason, were pre-
vented from serving in the Army, and who took
the Hounds out day after day under very trying
conditions. To ride a horse half*fit and to ride
that horse all day; to hunt Hounds that are
poorly fed ; to know that even if they were in good
enough condition to tire their Fox he would almost
surely find an open earth ; to be short-handed
both in the himting-field and in the kennel ; to
have a diminishing number of walks for puppies ; — |
all these things have not made the management of
hunting during the War a very pleasing occupation.
From the point of view of the Master and his Staff
the only compensation that can be imagined,
beyond the gratification of duty done, is that the
Hounds have not been ridden over by a large and
impetuous Field. Even this advantage has its
objectionable side : the Himtsnlan wants at least
enough people out to catch his horse if he has a
fall and turns him loose.
However, we seem to have put the worst behind
us, unless indeed we have another war. We may
breathe again now that we have been able to breed
HUNTING THE FOX 8
and enter a certain number of young Hounds each
y^€kr. In the last resort this was the only thing
that really mattered. Had the great governing
Kennels of England ceased to produce the Fox-
hoimdy the end would not have been far distant.
All else can be re-created except the Hounds. The
**raw material'* will breed itself fast enough.
All the rest is well within the range of British
g^us. So far indeed from making Fox-hunting
more difficult, the revival of agricultural prosperity
is calculated to make it easier than it has been for
many years. When prices were high in the Early
and Middle Victorian Age, a large proportion of
farmers could aSord to hunt, and did hunt, while
farmers generally enjoyed such a degree of aflSuence
that they did not trouble very much about claims.
Moreover, they could aSord to look after their
fences in the proper way, instead of mending them
with wire. When prices fell in the early 'eighties
and agricultural depression looked as if it had come
to stay, the himting former became rarer ; Hunt
Committees had to spend more money on claims ;
fences were neglected for lack of funds and labour,
and wire was used in some countries to save trouble.
In fact, owing to the low prices, a general hand-to-
mouth state of things prevailed on the land that
did not make the management of a himting country
quite so easy as it had been in the golden age.
On the other hand, '^s we have lately realized to
4 HUNTING THE FOX
our cost from the national point of view, the
area under grass increased steadily, and in a cer-
tain sense — ^possibly overestimated — enhanced the
chcirm of riding over the comitry. But, as well as
the grass, riches were all this time increasing in the
commercial world, albeit at the expense of a
neglected agriculture, and the successful Briton,
as is his wont, turned his eyes to the himting-
field, hired a himting-box, and spent his money
on the Sport of Kings. So Fox-hunting continued
to flourish, supported by a sound balance at its
bankers*, and, above all, by the love of sport
inherent in all classes of the realm. If this brief
analysis of the fortunes of the chase be correct ;
if agricultural prosperity has gone hand in hand
with the prosperity of hunting; if hunting has
become more popular not because of agricultural
depression, but in spite of it, then we have nothing
to fear from a revived agriculture. The farmer
will have the golden key in his hand, and be able
to mount his horse and show us the way over the
fences. Human nature will probably be much
the same after the Wcur as it was before the War.
Hunting, like the drama or any other institution,
depends for its existence on the support of public
opinion. Public opinion is not an easy thing to
define ; probably when we speak of public opinion
we refer to that amount of thought, tradition,
sentiment, and practical support which can be
HUNTING THE FOX 5
brought to bear on any given proposition. The
life of a thing will ultimately be secured by
the number and the ability of the people who in-
tend to make it a success. A bad cause well
organized may survive long enough to astonish
even its own devotees. But a good cause is never
lost. Fox-hunting is a good cause, if ever there
was one. And the War has surely increased the
number and ardour of its supporters. The one
thing that all Fox-hunters in the Fighting Services
have looked forward to throughout the War was
the great day when they would hunt again.
Hundreds of boys who had never even ridden
before the War foimd a fresh charm in life by
learning to ride and to love horses. Any one can
testify to this who has seen the sad faces of all
ranks in a Cavalry regiment in the throes of being
de-horsed and put on to bicycles. And not only
did these boys learn to ride, but many of them
while training at home had their first taste of the
elixir of the chase, and will be good firiends to
Fox-hunting for all time.
On the whole, then, we may expect to be con-
fronted with nothing very new in the management
of hunting after the War. If there be any one
who is temperamentally opposed to sport, and
would injure it if he could, he is hardly worth
considering. His whole outlook would probably
be anti-social and un-English in whatever rank of
6 HUNTING THE FOX
life he is to be found. He can perhaps best be
described as the spiritual descendant of that often-
quoted band of reformers who wished to put a
stop to bear-baiting not because it gave pain to
the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the
spectators. The only pressure to which Fox-
hunting might have to yield to a certain degree
in some coimtries does not proceed from any
prejudice against sport, but is purely economic in
its character. The national need for houses or
gcurdens, or public works, may by common con-
sent become more imperative in certain suburban
districts than the national need for the local Hunt,
which may fail to sustain what has probably been
for many years somewhat of a spoon-fed existence.
Changes of this kind are purely local, and will
have no effect on hunting as a whole. Let us
not forget that Foxes were once himted and killed
in Mayfair and Kensington, and that himting did
not cease in the British Isles because Lord Berkeley
was no longer able to kennel his Hoimds at Charing
Cross. For every pack that was disestablished
by the expansion of cities, others were formed in
rural districts, until we now have more packs of
Foxhounds in the United Kingdom than ever we
had before.
There remains one cardinal principle with
regard to the spirit of Fox-himting. If it is to
retain its vigour, it must never become the privilege
HUNTING THE FOX 7
of any particular class. Like all other really good
things it is either national or else it is nothing.
If ever it presents the appearance of being based
upon exdusiveness the whole fabric will dissolve.
The proper preservation of Fox-hunting is a trust
held by all parties to its direction, whether land-
owners, farmers, or subscribers, in order to provide
the healthiest form of British sport for every one
who can enjoy it, whether on foot or on horseback.
There is a young generation growing up who have
not had the tonic of Military Service. Hunting is
the one field sport left in these islands — ^with the
possible exception of Deer-stalking, which is only
enjoyed by a small minority — ^that in the face of
modem luxury still calls for courage, endurance,
decision, and nerve. Let us hand it down to those
who come after us in its best and purest form.
CHAPTER II
Masters of Foxhounds — ^To dig or not to dig ? — Choice of
Hunt-servants — ^Fiyrmers' horses — ^Puppy walkers.
No one is too good to be a Master of Foxhounds.
If be be gifted with the average endowment of
tact, administrative talent, power of penetrating
character, and all other attributes that form the
essential equipment of a successful public man, so
much the better ; but he should at least be reared
in the atmosphere and tradition of coimtry life,
fond of sport for its own sake, a good judge of
Horses and Hounds, and the possessor of a re-
markably thick skin. For in addition to directing
the sport in the Field, the M.F.H. is indeed a public
man who should have some faculty for the art of
government, being ultimately responsible for the
welfare of the country over which he presides.
The character and ability of the Hunt Committee
and Secretary, and the disposition of the owners
and occupiers of land may make his task pro-
portionately easy or difficult as the case may be.
8
HUNTING THE FOX 9
But there is no limit to the influence of the M.F.H.
if he has the power and the will to use it wisely
and well, fortified by the resolve to leave his country,
when he lays down his office, in at least as good a
state as he found it, and as much better as he can
possibly make it. The proper administration of
a hunting country is a vital part of Fox-hunting.
As a general principle the Master should always
work through the agency of the Secretary and the
Committee, who should consult him before taking
important decisions. But the Master had better
not come into open and direct contact with any-
thing that has to do with finance, however much
he may advise in private coimcil with regard to
ways and means. The main postulate is that he
should know everything that is going on, so that
he may place his experience and influence at the
disposal of the Secretary. The only administrative
department that he might conceivably take into
his own hands is that of the earth-stopping. If
the Secretary hunts every day in the season from
the beginning of Cub-himting, he can manage
the earth-stopping himself, and it is probably
better so. But even then the M.F.H. and the
Huntsman should be personally acquainted with
every earth-stopper in the country, and know where
to find him, especially if the Secretary lives some
distance from the Kennel, and cannot therefore be
communicated with on an emergency. But who-
10 HUNTING THE POX
ever actually manages the earth-stopping, the
importance of it cannot be overestimated. A
badly stopped comitry is responsible for more
trouble to the cause of Fox-hunting than almost
anything else. It acts and reacts on the whole
reputation of the sport. To draw coverts blank
because the earths are open places the entire Hunt
in a ridiculous position. To run to ground just as
Hounds are settled to their Fox causes acute
disappointment to every one. If the Fox does not
find an open earth until he has shown a good run,
some of the ladies and gentlemen may indeed have
enjoyed their gallop, and may take refuge in the
comfortable formula that the good Fox will live
to run another day. This light-hearted prophecy
may or may not be fulfilled. No one can tell.
Some one may make it his business to see that the
Fox does not get out of that earth alive. But it
is quite certain that constantly running to ground
seriously impairs the moral of both Huntsman and
Hounds. Nothing makes a pack of Foxhounds so
well as killing beaten Foxes. Nothing unmakes
them like being robbed of their game when they are
running for blood. And with regard to the pre-
servation of Foxes, the ancient paradox, ^^The
more Foxes you kill, the more you have to kill/*
contains a vital truth. The whole countryside
soon gets to know whether the Hounds are killing
their Foxes or not. If they kill them, all is well.
HUNTING THE FOX 11
If not, some officious person may think it his duty
to save them the trouble.
A whole chapter might be written on the science
of earth**stopping. It is probably right to try to
proceed on the principle of putting permanent
grates to every drain, which, with periodical in-
spection, shall last for all time, and to stop securely
every earth at the beginning of Cub-hunting until
about February 1, when the earths may be opened
to allow the vixens access to them, and put to in
the morning and reopened at night. But much
will depend on the individual earth-stopper and
the nature of the country. Some earth-stoppers
seem to be bom and not made, while in some
countries the badgers will play havoc with the
most elaborate defences. But there is one element
that has an important, if indirect, bearing on
earth-stopping which is within the orbit of the
Master's decision. This is the matter of digging.
During Cub-hunting the Cub should fdways be
dug out and eaten unless there are very obvious
reasons to the contrary. To take an esttreme case,
a Cub may be marked to ground very early, before
the Hounds have done any work, in a place from
which it would obviously take a gang of navvies
at least two hours to get him out. By this time
the sun would be risen, and it might do the con-
dition of the Hounds more good to try to find
another Cub, not forgetting to stop the earth before
12 HUNTING THE FOX
drawing again. Some Masters will leave a digging-
party and trust to getting back to the earth and
killing the Cub later on. If this course is followed,
one of the establishment should be left at the earth
to direct operations. If the digging-party succeeds
in digging down to the Cub, and there seems to be
no prospect of the Hounds being able to come and
eat him, the whipper-in, or whoever is in command,
should have orders to let the Cub go rather than
bring him to the Huntsman in a bag. A moimted
man in livery carrying a Fox about the country
in a bag is not an edifying spectacle ; and to eat a
Fox out of a bag on the way home does not do
Hounds much good. If, on the other hand, the
Hounds mark their Cub to ground after a fair
morning's work, then the M.F.H. should not be
afraid to face a good long dig. He will blood his
hoimds, teach them to mark their Foxes to ground,
give satisfaction to the Fox preservers, and very
likely dig out the earth or drain in such a way that
it is safe for the season.
So much for digging during Cub -hunting.
Digging after November 1 is another matter. To
dig or not to dig ? That is the question. The
general ethics of modem Fox-himting would seem
to preclude the practice ; but the Master's decision
must be guided by the scent, the weather, the
length of daylight, and the prospective magnitude
of the operation. If it is a good scenting day and
HUNTING THE FOX 18
the precious hours of daylight are short, he will be
wise to try to find another Fox, unless the dig is
certain to be only a matter of a few minutes.
Good scenting days are so rare that not a moment
must be wasted. If he decides not to dig, he should
have the Hounds called away inunediately, and
leave the earth quietly and quickly. He will in
this manner cause the minimum of disappointment
to the Hounds, and disclose the refuge of the Fox
to as few people as possible. To potter about over
the earth, to collect a crowd of foot-people who
amuse themselves by an amateur dig after the
Hounds have gone, to keep the Field waiting, and
in the end to disappoint the Hounds, — all this is
bad policy from every point of view. If the scent
is so poor that the chance of a good run is remote,
the weather fine, and the daylight long, a dig may
be legitimate even during the regular hunting
season.
Having digressed somewhat on the subject of
digging for the purpose of illustrating its influence
on the welfare of the Hunt, let us return to some
other aspects of Mastership. Of these the engage-
ment of the servants is one of the most difficult
and hazardous. It is easier to choose a wife than
to choose a Huntsman. The M.F.H. may know
all about some particular Huntsman and have the
fortune to find him free at the right moment,
otherwise he will have to rely upon hearsay ; but
14 HUNTING THE FOX
it is well to reinforce such knowledge by watching
the man at his work. If a week or more can be
spent in this way, so much the better. One day
is a great deal better than nothing, but it requires
a judge of very ripe experience to form an opinion
in one day, and even then it is very easy to make
a mistake. Something may be gathered from
voice, manner, horsemanship, and the look of the
Hounds. But the day may be one of those good
scenting days when all Huntsmen are dubbed the
finest Huntsmen in Europe, or it may be one of
those terrible days a succession of which would
ruin the reputation of the very elect. The cardinal
tests of the ability of a Himtsman in the field are
his capacity to mark and to becur in mind the exact
spot where the leading Hoimds lose the scent,
and his power to keep his Hounds together well
in front of his horse, with their looses to the ground,
without too much help from his whipper-in. If a
Himtsman is perpetually in front of the Hoimds,
drifting about with no apparent reference to the
place where they threw up, or if he is constantly
sending one of his whippers-in to collect small
parties of Hounds, you may be sure there is some-
thing wrong.
An attempt will be made in another chapter to
deal more fully with these points. We €tre now on
our visit of inspection, and unless the scent is
first-rate, a rough and ready judgement might
HUNTING THE FOX 15
possibly be formed by keeping them in view. In
any case, a visit should be paid to the Kennel, not
forgetting the boiling-house. If the Kennel and
its inmates, both human and animal, are clean
and tidy, and the food thick, with not too much
soup in it — ^none would probably be better — ^then
the impression is favourable.
Let us assume that the Huntsman is engaged
and has entered on his duties on May 1. Although
the M.F.H. is ultimately responsible for him and
should know what he is doing, there is such a thing
as the Master interfering too much in the details
of kennel numagement. When a man is engaged
for the important position of Huntsman, he is
worthy of a free hand to develop the condition of
the Hounds in his own way, and in modem phrase
it ^^ is up to him to make good.*' His employer
should satisfy himself before engaging him that
he is likely to proceed upon sound principles with
regard to feeding and exerdse, the breaking of
young Hounds, and the management of Whelps,
and then leave the execution of these principles
to the servant, who if he cannot be trusted to
produce his pack in the autumn fit to kill an after-
noon Fox,* and well-broken enough not to need
the whip, had better naake way for some one else.
The suggestion that the Master may be well advise^
to leave the Huntsman to do his own work in the
Kennel is not meant to imply that he should neglect
16 HUNTING THE FOX
the Kennel in the summer. If he is really fond of
Hounds he will want to breed a pack worth looking
at on the flags, and it is a great advantage to the
Huntsman if his Master will invite the visits and
criticisms of various judges and breeders. No one
is too old to learn, and a wise Huntsman who can
keep his mouth shut and his ears open on these
occasions will gather much food for reflection.
The choice of a whipper-in is in a certain sense
less important. Provided he can take care of his
horses and has a fair share of the great gift of
receptivity, he will, as a general rule, become
whatever the Huntsman can make him. Some
establishments seem to have the art of turning
out good men. Others never seem to be able
to teach anybody, probably because no definite
system is maintained, because blame is given when
things go wrong, no praise when things go right,
while those in authority are either incompetent or
unwilling to give a reasoned explanation of the
why and the wherefore of orders.
Having engaged his servants, the M.F.H. will
have to find horses for them to ride. The governing
principle is to give them good ones ; this is not
only the kindest but the cheapest plan. A high
authority has remarked that a good servant will
always take care of a good horse. Self-preservation
will prompt him to do this, because he will not
want to put a safe mount out of action. The same
HUNTING THE POX 17
instinct will not make him particularly anxious
about the welfare of a bad one. It is wise to buy
as many horses as possible from the farmers. The
hunting-farmer is one of the best, if not the best
of friends to Fox-hunting, and from every point
of view should be encouraged to own and breed
good hunters. There is no greater encouragement
to him in this direction than the knowledge that
he will always have a willing customer in the
M.F.H. if he can produce the goods. If this under-
standing can be created, the M.F.H. will have the
great advantage of having the pick of all the best
farmers' horses in the country. He has an oppor-
tunity of seeing them because he visits all districts
regularly when hunting, and can make it his busi-
ness to know all the young horses which the farmers
ride. The spectacle of a horse bought from a
farmer carrying one of the Staff — or maybe the
M.F.H. himself — ^well to the front, not only advances
the national cause of horse-breeding by force of
example, but promotes good-will and legitimate
pride by giving the late owner of the horse a re-
flected, almost a proprietary, interest in the
establishment. To quote Egerton Warburton :
And should his steed with trampling feet
Be urged across your tender wheat,
That steed, perchance, by you was bred,
And yours the cotn on which he's fed.
If it is well for the M.F.H. to take a general
c
18 HUNTING THE FOX
interest in the farmers' horses, it is essential that
he should take particular interest in the puppies
and puppy walkers. The personal touch in this
matter, as in most others, is more valuable than
many silver cups, though prizes and a good
luncheon on a fine day in July undoubtedly warm
the heart.
CHAPTER III
Masters of Foxhounds (eonimued) — Cub-hunting — ^Regular
hunting — Control of the Fidd — Drawing — ^Pace from
covert to covert.
Let us now consider the duties of the M.F.H. in
the hunting-field. Of these the scientific direction
of the Cub-hunting is of crucial importance. It is
here that the pack is made or naarred. It cannot
be too often repeated that the primary object of
Cub-hunting is to teach the young Hounds to hunt,
and in addition to complete the education of the
last year's entry. Puppies are of no proven value
to the pack during their first season, and cannot
even begin to be counted as reliable until at least
the end of their second Cub -hunting. As well
as training the young Hounds, the Cub -hunting
season gives opportunity and leisure to the Master
and his Staff to study the science and to practise
the art of the chase. Each day should add some-
thing to knowledge, which is the secret of success
in hunting as in everything else.
Cub-hunting should begin the very moment
10
20 HUNTING THE FOX
the state of the harvest will allow, and should
be pursued relentlessly » no matter how hard
the ground may be. Continuity of training is of
supreme value, and to interrupt it is a fatal mistake.
The M.F.H. should be out every day himself, so
as to make sure by personal supervision that a
definite system is carried out and that no liberties
are taken. In bad scenting weather, when Cubs
do not come to hand easily, temptation to depart
from orthodox methods may easily arise, when
the influence of the M.F.H. should be on the side
of that little extra bit of perseverance that sooner
or later is bound to prevail. Keep on plajring the
game, the Cubs will be caught, and the pack will
be made, not forgetting that one really well-beaten
Cub killed is worth more than almost any amount
of fresh ones chopped before the Hounds have
had to work for them. They should have their
blood and hackles up, and be savage with their
Fox before they kill him. When two or three
couples catch a fat Cub asleep and the remainder
of the pack wander up mainly to see what is the
matter, it is doubtful if any permanent good is
done except to add to the number of noses on the
kennel door. Here and there, no doubt, Cubs will
have to be held up in small places. It is better
to do this than not catch any at all. But the
orthodox method is to visit the strongholds first
and to stick to them all morning. The best way
HUNTING THE POX 21
to teach a pack of Hounds perseverance, the true
secret of success, is for the Master and his Staff to
exhibit this quality themselves. Hounds are very
receptive. Even after it would seem certain that
every Cub has left the covert, it is always well
worth while to draw back over the old ground on
the chance of getting a tired one on to his legs who
has lam down, hoping his enemies had left. This
is often much more profitable than breaking fresh
ground, and having to begin aU over again to tire
a fresh litter of Cubs. There are few things in
Fox-hunting of more value to the moral of the
Hounds than to finish a long dragging morning
by re-flnding . Ug-we^ Cub L k^kin. .ft.f
a good cry lasting about a quarter of an hour. The
lesson learnt from this experience is that in dealing
with a Utter of Cubs it is a good general rule to
keep on the same ground as long as possible, much
on the same principle as in dealing with a covey
of young partridges at the same time of year. At
a certain phase of the operation everything seems
to be hopeless, and the game to have vanished.
But more often than not it will tend to creep back
home again, if indeed it is not lying down on its
own ground. It should be remarked that a tired
Cub will often lie very close, and not always in
the thick places, sometimes trying to hide in the
boundary hedges and ditches of the covert, so that
in drawing back over the old ground the search
22 HUNTING THE FOX
should not be perfunctory, but even more patient
and thorough than in drawing over it for the first
time.
During at least the first month of Cub-hunting,
Hounds should be kept in covert and not allowed
to see daylight. This for two reasons : first, the
puppies learn to depend on the old Hounds and
go to the cry much better in covert than in the
open. They cannot stare about, and are forced
to use their ears and their intelligence. Second,
the whole pack learns how to correct its own faults
without holloas and assistance — ^the most valuable
of all lessons — ^when the Cub makes a sharp turn,
and the scent is overrun. In addition to this, the
Staff cannot keep near Hounds in the open until
at least the middle of October. What happens ?
The training and condition of the old Hounds gives
them the lead; the puppies follow them, not
rightly knowing what they are after; sooner or
later a check occurs ; a hare jumps up, offering
a temptation which impetuous youth cannot resist,
even in its second season, and a general demoraliza-
tion ensues. The old Hounds are disgusted, and
the puppies, after running the hare as long as sight
will serve, throw up their heads and lie down to lap
in the nearest pond. The Huntsman and whippers-
in will probably not get all parties together again
until such mischief has been done that will take
many mornings of steady work in covert to correct.
HUNTING THE FOX 28
If, in spite of all precautions. Hounds get away
on an old Fox, they should be stopped as gently
and quietly as possible, in such a manner as not
to make them think they have done anything
wrong. If the Huntsman is lucky enough to be
with them at the first check, he can draw them
away from the line directly their heads are up and
he can gain their attention. This is so constantly
done with the best intentions during the regular
hunting that it should not be difficult during the
Cub-hunting. They should then be taken quietly
back to the woodland at such a pace as will give
them time to get their minds and bodies cool before
asking them to find another Cub. Hounds should
never be invited to draw with their mouths open.
During the month of October, when the country
is a little more practicable for mounted pursuit,
and after the puppies have been well drilled in
covert for some weeks, if the whole pack come out
of covert well together on the line of their Cub,
then they may be allowed to go, when a sharp
burst or two in the open will teach them to get
throu^ the fences, and improve their condition
by opening their pipes. But before the 1st of
November they should never be holloaed away
on the first Fox that leaves the covert. This
Fox is nearly sure to be the old dog Fox, who will
probably lead his pursuers so far away from home
that it may be impossible to get back to the covert
24 HUNTING THE FOX
in time to deal with the Cubs ; and in the second
place it is a golden rule laid down by a great
authority that during the Cub-hunting season
Hounds should always be made to find their own
Fox.
After November 1 the M.F.H. will have to
address himself to the management of his Field.
This task is rendered easy or difficult in proportion
to the manner in which the cardinal rules of the
chase are scientifically observed. For instance, if
the woodlands are drawn up wind, the ladies and
gentlemen will be able to hear the Huntsman
draw for his Fox, and hear the Hounds find him.
And in fact the management of the Field, both in
covert and in the open, depends indirectly upon
the Huntsman. If his horn and voice are always
clear and intelligible in covert, every one will
know exactly what he is doing and when it is safe
to stand still without the fear of being left behind.
If he is vague and indefinite; like a bad actor who,
in the language of the theatre, cannot ^^ get it over
the footlights," then the Field will quite naturally
stalk him to see for themselves what he is doing,
with the result that no Master can control them.
In the open, if the Himtsman rides well up to his
Hounds and has sufficient wisdom and self-control
to stand stock-still, well away from them, when
they come to a check, then the Field will also be
obliged to stand still. There is nothing else for
HUNTING THE FOX 25
them to do. About seven times out of ten the
Hounds will hit off the line for themselves, and all
goes well again. When he is ultimately obliged
to try his hand at a cast, if he will only make the
smallest possible circle first up wind and then
down wind, with his Hounds well in front of him,
the Field may be induced to stand still because
they can see what is going on, and there will be
no excuse for following him about when he is
casting. This method of handling the situation
at a check has been prescribed by the best authori-
ties, and serves the purpose of making it possible
for the Master to control the Field, to say nothing
of its being by far the most likely way to catch
the Fox. If, on the other hand, the Huntsman
thinks that the moment a check occurs he must
be up and doing, and acts in the contrary manner
to that which has just been indicated, by riding
into his Hoimds and starting off on an indeterminate
dragging expedition down wind with all his Hounds
behind him with their heads up, it is next door
to impossible for the Master to prevent the Field
from following him, smashing the fences when
Hounds are not running, and foiling all the ground,
while the Hounds are far more concerned to avoid
being jumped upon than to put their noses down
for the scent. This painful exhibition generally
ends in the Master losing his temper and the
Huntsman losing his Fox.
26 HUNTING THE FOX
It would seem, therefore, that the Master's
duty of controlling the Field will depend to a great
degree upon the technique of his Huntsman. He
can also make things immeasurably easier for him-
self if he can prevail upon his Field to give him
precedence, if he is there in time to claim it, when-
ever Hounds are not running. If he is in front he
can be as quiet and as powerful as the policeman
regulating the traffic outside the Mansion House.
But if even one lady or gentleman get in front of
him, his power to set the pace is gone ; he is, then,
either obliged to raise his voice with the risk of
getting the Hounds' heads up and spoiling the run,
or else he has to race for the lead and set the whole
cavalcade cantering and competing at the very
moment when a sober pace should be the order of
the day. It is a mistake to hold up the Field at
a gate or in a road for a moment longer than is
absolutely necessary. The more eager spirits will
tend to work round on the flanks and get out of
hand. The ideal state of things to aim at is the
creation of a feeling of confidence that no one will
lose his start by conforming to the pace and direc-
tion of the M.F.H. when Hounds are at fault.
Here again the Huntsman can help. If the short
circle already described has failed and he is making
a wider circle down wind, he should always let
his Master and the Field know by voice or horn
when Hounds have hit off the scent again, that is.
HUNTING THE FOX 27
if they happen to do so at such a distance that the
cry may not be easily heard. The exuberance of
the preceding gallop begets much talk at a check.
However regrettable this may be, it is not un-
natural ; and on every count the Field should never
be given a reasonable excuse for saying that the
Huntsman has slipped them.
In approaching a covert to find a Fox, it is wise
to draw the woodlands up wind so as to get a good
start with him, while the small coverts should be
drawn down wind, so as to give the Fox a good
chance of getting on his legs in time to avoid being
chopped. But in both cases the last half-mile
at least should be covered at a walk, so as to put
the Hounds into covert with their mouths shut and
to allow the rear of the column to close up. If
this rule is not carefully followed the Hounds will
not draw well, while the straggling horsemen
become distributed all over the country, and may
very likely head the Fox by trying to make up for
lost time and to get a start by riding on the down-
wind side of the covert. In the absence of military
discipline it is remarkable how the tail of a Field
of two hundred people will lengthen out, even if
the Hounds are only travelling on the road at the
rate of six or seven miles an hour. By walking for
the last half-mile or more before getting to the
covert-side, the M.F.H. will give himself a chance
of collecting his Field. Sometimes circumstances
28 HUNTING THE FOX
make it difficult or impossible to draw a woodland
up wind in the orthodox manner. On these occa-
sions a short halt may be called about a mile from
the covert, and one of the Staff instructed to canter
on down wind for a view ; this is especiaUy to be
thought of after Christmas, when the Foxes have
already been hunted and the coverts are thin.
But on no account should the Huntsman be
allowed to ride up to any covert, send his man on
for a view, try to put the Fox out by blowing his
horn, and then gallop the Hounds round to lay
them on to his brush. This practice sounds tempt-
ing, and may indeed result in something brilliant,
but it is thoroughly unsoimd. Even if done once
the Hounds will not forget it for weeks, and the
next time they are asked to draw, will be looking
up into their Huntsman's face expecting him to
clap them on to their Fox and save them the trouble
of drawing. The more successful this manceuvre,
the more fatal its effect upon the moral of the pack.
The pace from covert to covert should be regu-
lated mainly by the temperature and the wind.
Hounds can travel comfortably on the road at
least half as fast again on a cool day up wind
as on a warm day down wind. The natural
pace for a Hound on the road is about six miles
an hour. They should never be asked to go to
the meet faster than this, except perhaps during
the first few weeks of Cub-hunting, when a some-
HUNTING THE FOX 29
what faster pace will help their condition ; and on
no occasion should they be hurried beyond this
pace on the way home. But from covert to covert
they can be accustomed to go on an average about
eight miles an hour. Like all men and women
they are creatures of habit ; like some men and
women they are intensely receptive, and can be
taught by a clever and sympathetic Huntsman
to do almost anything.
The M.F.H. should of course arrange to draw
all his country impartially, with a mental reserva-
tion that the woodlands can be drawn with advan-
tage more often than small coverts. An isolated
covert in what people call " the good country "
had as a general rule better not be drawn more
than once every six weeks. It is better not to go
Cub-hunting at all in a covert of this kind. If it
is known to contain a strong litter of Cubs, some
Masters think it right to disturb them before
November 1. If this is done, the Cubs should on
no account be mobbed. They should be allowed
to go quietly away without anything being said,
and such Hounds as come out after them should
be stopped and turned back to the cry in the covert.
The body of the pack should be allowed to hunt
their own Cub away. But it is a mistake to spend
too long a time Cub-hunting in a pet covert, whose
proper function is to provide good runs when
every one is out to enjoy them later on. Even if
80 HUNTING THE FOX
no Cub is killed in the covert, after an hour or two
of work every stick in the place will smell of Fox-
hound for weeks afterwards, and a grave risk is
incurred of not finding there again until after
Christmas, or perhaps until the next season.
The M.F.H. should never try to elude the foot-
people by trotting away from the Meet to draw a
distant covert. The County Pack and the sport
it can show in each locality is in a certain sense the
traditional property of the natives, whether they
are mounted or on foot ; they are proud of their
inheritance ; and if the foot-folk do holloa out of
place, or head a Fox or two once or twice in the
season, the harm they may do in this way to sport
is a small matter compared with the legitimate
disappointment caused to many people who are
real friends to Fox-hunting, although only mounted
on ^^ Shanks' mare,** by not having a chance of
seeing a Fox foimd in the local covert.
CHAPTER IV
The Huntsman — Qualities required — ^Feeding, exercise,
and breaking.
If no one is too good to be a Master of Foxhounds^
it is certain that no one is too good to be a Hunts-
man, be he professional or amateur. A man who
can combiae in his own person the many qualities
that are the essential attributes of a first-class
Huntsman is indeed difficult to find. Considering
what a very important part the Huntsman plays
in the lives of so many people, it is open to doubt
whether we take enough pains to attract talent
into the service, or whether we take enough trouble
to train such talent as we have. In almost every
important profession save that of service with
Hounds, there is some definite standard of tech-
nique, some school for students where only the
best is taught, some theatre where the best men
can be seen at their work. The doctor, the actor,
the lawyer, the painter, not to mention many
others, can all study their art from the written
and spoken lessons of recognized authorities, and,
81
82 HUNTING THE FOX
better still, can actually see the first - class artist
performing, and copy him if they can. But the
opportunity for Hunt-servants to acquire know-
ledge is haphazard and fortuitous : a boy may grow
grey in the service of Fox-hunting without even
seeing Hounds properly handled or Foxes scien-
tifically killed. This disability is unavoidable,
but there it is. Unavoidable because the young
servant may be limited to the observation of a
Huntsman who may be setting him a bad example
at the most impressionable time of his life. Lucky
is the youth who stays long enough in cme place
where the orthodox system is carried out.
Many people will say that Huntsmen are bom
and not made. This, like many other generaliza-
tions, is only partly true. No doubt some men
have more talent for the chase than others ; but
talent cannot afford to dispense with knowledge.
The French character would almost appear to
have welded the experiences of the hunting-field
into a definite, perhaps even an elaborate science,
thus creating a recognized school which must
surely be valuable to the student. The British
are perhaps more impatient of detail, not over-
fond of an academy, so, beyond certain rather
vague traditions, and one or two writings that
will be referred to in a later chapter, the young
Huntsman in this country has nothing much to
guide him but his power of receptivity and his
HUNTING THE FOX 88
ability to profit by his own mistakes. There is
no doubt that personal experience is the best
teacher. But personal experience would be quick-
ened if it could be fortified by the experience of
the great Masters of the chase collected in such a
form as to be accessible to us all.
Now to our Huntsman. Within reason it is
not essential that he should be so very young and
so very light. This does not mean to say that
he should be old and heavy. But as a general
rule it is not likely that a man will have absorbed
enough knowledge to be a successful Huntsman
until he is well past thirty. At this age there is
the best part of twenty good years in front of him
if only he knows how to ride, even if his horses
have to carry as much as a ^^ light fourteen stone."
If they are asked to carry more than this, the task
of mounting him in some countries would become
formidable, possibly prohibitive. But we must
not forget that a light-weight who does not know
how to ride will get to the bottom of his horse,
while a middle-weight who sits still and keeps
hold of his horse's head will beat him every time.
His very limitations will have taught the middle-
weight, if he has any sense, not to take liberties
with his horses, while the superior momentum of a
middle-sized horse and rider will enable them to
brush aside obstacles and get through the dirt
with less exertion than a feather-weight couple.
D
84 HUNTING THE FOX
If the verdict on the whole is in favour of the
middle size in man and horses, it is certainly in
favour of the middle size in Hounds, which aspect
of hunting will be dealt with in a later chapter.
But whatever the Huntsman weighs, there is
no doubt that he should be a good horseman.
This postulate is not purely utilitarian. It is not
too much to say that imless he is a good horseman
he is not likely to be a good Huntsman, because to
be a good horseman involves the possession of
that knowledge of and sympathy with animals
that is an essential portion of all true woodcraft,
particularly the woodcraft of the Huntsman, the
main purpose of which is to influence the intelligence
of animals for the amusement of man. If things
do not go smoothly between a Huntsman and his
horse, you may be sure that he has missed a part
of that understanding of his raw material which
must be the main characteristic of the successful
exercise of his profession. And if he does not
understand one part of his raw material, the Horse,
he will not be likely to have a temperament to
understand the other two, the Hound and the
Fox ; and of these two the proper understanding of
the Hound is of the first importance. The Hounds
and not the Huntsman have to find, hunt, kill, and
eat the Fox. The frame of mind of a Huntsman
towards his Hounds should be inspired and governed
by the principle that his duty is only to render
HUNTING THE FOX 86
them such services as they cannot perform for
themselves, and never to interfere with them for
any other purpose. Hence, roughly speaking, the
two dominant ideas of the Huntsman should be
to bring his Hounds into the Field in tiptop condi-
tion, and having got them away close to their
Fox, not to go near them when they lose the scent,
until they obviously feel the want of him, or unless
he can give them some definite piece of information
which they cannot obtain for themselves. Even
this must be done with great judgement and skill
if the doing of it involves the dangerous expedient
of getting their heads up.
Condition is the key to success. If the question
were asked, *^ What shows most sport and kills most
Foxes ? ** the magic word " condition " would be
a safe answer. A moderate-looking lot of Hounds
will catch more Foxes than all the Peterborough
winners put together if they are in better condition.
Authorities may not quite agree as to the exact
methods by which the requisite fitness can best
be gained and kept. Some will advocate more
summer exercise than others, and every one may
not see eye to eye as to the amount of covering
there should be on the Hounds' ribs at the beginning
of Cub-hunting. The feeding demands primary
attention. There is good ground for supporting
the rule that the quantity of food should be reduced
in the summer rather than the quality. In some
86 HUNTING THE FOX
Kennels the thick oatmeal and flesh that is, or
ought to be, served during the hunting season is
watered down. This must surely be a mistake.
Solids are the natural sustenance of dogs. They
will no doubt swallow gallons of slush if they cannot
get anything else, but as it does not stay by them, it
is doubtful if it does them any good, and it is really
wasted. It is true that when they are not working
under high pressure they will require less food ;
but it is good policy in the smnmer to let the con-
sistency remain thick as in the winter, and to give
them less of it, with the addition of some boiled
greens or nettles. Hounds should also be halted
at summer exercise where the young grass is long,
and they will soon obey the dictates of nature
and clean their digestive organs by eating it. By
giving them thick food in a greater or a less amount
all the year round, the sound quality of their tissues
will be maintained. After a fortnight of slush a
Hound will become flabby; his coat, that true
index of health, will lack lustre ; he will lose his
vitality, and his whole system will take weeks to
recuperate at the very season of the year when
he ought to be fit for long exercise. A Hound's
condition should never be let down below a certain
level. It is so much easier to let down than to
build up.
The proper feeding of the Hounds has been given
the first place in the summer duties of the Hunts-
HUNTING THE FOX 87
man because, with regard to all kinds of stock
both human and animal, the main avenue to health
is diet. The next thing is exercise. The actual
breaking of the young Hounds should be carried
out with as little whip as possible. Any more
whip than is necessary to ensure obedience is
nothing more or less than gratuitous cruelty,
which will one day recoil on the head of the person
who uses it. If you see a pack of Hounds scatter
in different directions with their stems down
whenever a whipper-in gets off his horse, you may
be sure that the discipline of that pack has been
obtained by sheer severity instead of by firmness,
patience, and confidence. All good Foxhounds
are highly bred, affectionate, sensitive creatures,
and will not give you of their best if they are
actuated by fear. Our forefathers apparently
relied on the terror of the whip more than we do.
Perhaps the years that have gone by have bred
into the modem Foxhound a hereditary sense of
discipline ; but there is no doubt that to-day we
have a better way. It is true that certain puppies,
like certain boys and girls, are all the better for
a stroke or two in season. But the instrument
should be light and the application rare. Flogging
can never be an effective substitute for voice,
manner, personality, and the capacity for authority,
without which requisites it is better not to enter
the service of the Foxhound.
88 HUNTING THE POX
The entry should be exercised separately from
the entered Hounds for some weeks, so that the
entered Hounds who have abeady been disciplined
may be spared the worry and annoyance occasioned
by the drilling of the young ones. Short and
gentle horse exercise may begin for both old and
young Hounds about six weeks or so after the end
of the hunting season, the hours and pace being
gradually increased, until the whole pack covers
during the month of August from eighty to a
hundred miles a week. Some Huntsmen may
perhaps advocate even more than this. But it
is doubtful if more than a certain degree of fitness
can be achieved by summer exercise, and the
excessive straining of it may very likely subtract
from the vitality of the pack to no useful purpose.
The average working life of a Foxhound is so short
that it can almost be counted in days ; let us there-
fore not waste a single hour of his energy. In
countries where riot is plentiful, Hounds should
of course be allowed to see it occasionally during
the summer, and firmly, and above all quietly, for-
bidden to ** look " at it. But however steady they
may become under supervision in the simmier,
the last word about riot will not be said until they
have killed several brace of Foxes. The blood of
the Fox is the true antidote to the pursuit of the
hare and the deer. Hounds will soon learn what
animal they are brought out to hunt.
CHAPTER V
The Huntsman in the field — ^His proper position when
handling Hounds — ^Dog language— A morning's Cub-
hunting.
The fact that the Huntsman has been the intimate
companion of his Hounds during the smnmer does
not necessarily add to his. power of influencing
them in the hunting-field. Cupboard love does
not go very far with Foxhounds, It is the sport
that tells. Bolingbroke, in one of his letters to
Sir William Wyndham on the State of the Nation,
wrote of the House of Commons : " You know the
nature of that assembly : they grow, like hounds,
fond of the man who shows them game, and by
whose halloo they are used to be encouraged.''
Foxhounds are not like Mr. Jorrocks' horse
Artaxerxes, of whom his owner said that he would
sooner have a feed of com than the finest run that
ever was seen. As a matter of fact, it is not really
a positive essential that the man who is going to
hunt the Hounds should even have seen them in
the summer at aU. If he understands how to
39
40 HUNTING THE POX
handle them he will begin to get their confidence
in a very few hours, and after he has killed a brace
of Cubs with each pack they will not want to
attach themselves to any one else.
Although the general plan of campaign during
Cub-hunting differs from that of regular hunting,
the actual method of handling Hounds is in prin-
ciple the same. The primary idea that the Hunts-
man should bear in mind is that the Hounds should
leave the Kennel in front of his horse and remain
there all day, except when he is riding well away
from them on a flank for the purpose of manceuvring
them. This maxim may not be carried out to the
letter on the road. But even here the body of the
pack should always be in front of the Huntsman;
they will naturally be there if he is only proceeding
at what is called ^* Hound jog " ; if he wants to go
faster than this he should teach his Hounds to
conform to his pace by the influence of his voice
and manner, and not by having them whipped
and frightened after him. Foxhounds can be
taught to do almost anything if they are spoken
to civilly, cheerfully, and firmly. It is not con-
sistent with their dignity for the Huntsman to
ride away from them at his own pace in silence,
and for them to be rudely ordered to follow him
by the whipper-in scolding them from behind.
On the road, as elsewhere, a well-modulated dog
language on the part of the Huntsman is invaluable.
HUNTING THE POX 41
In dealing with all kinds of animals, too much
attention cannot be paid to the inflexions of the
human voice. A Huntsman who cultivates this
art can get his Hounds to go with him at any pace
he likes without any whipper-in at all. In actual
practice it is well to go to covert in September
at almost eight miles an hour, for the sake of
economizing daylight and incidentally for the sake
of a little extra condition, slackening the pace, of
course, to let Hounds get cool before they are
asked to hunt. It is not difficult to achieve this
pace at this time of year ; Hounds are then fresh
and eager, and in the early hours the traffic does
not impede. On arriving at the covert-side, there
is no occasion during Cub-hunting to send away
either of the whippers-in for the purpose of getting
a view. The Huntsman, having their assistance,
will not find it a bad plan to halt about one hundred
yards from the covert, and have his men so placed
that they can prevent any Hound breaking away
from him until he gives the signal after a minute's
pause. When he says " Eleu in there ! " the old
Hounds know what to do fast enough, and will
show the young ones the way into the covert.
The Huntsman cannot now be too patient. He
should follow his Hounds up to the outside of the
covert, and not go inside himself until every Hound,
both old and young, is well out of sight. Then he
should go quite slowly to the gate of the covert.
42 HUNTING THE POX
using his voice all the time. This method has
been here indicated in almost the detail of a drill,
because the importance of teaching Hounds to
draw properly cannot be overestimated. There
is nothing more true in Fox-hunting than the old
saying, ^^A Fox well found is half-killed.'' Let
us see what happens if this system is not carried
out. If the Huntsman does not wait for the
young Hounds to enter the covert with the old
ones, they will follow him round by the gate and
not leave his horse's heels until the old Hounds
open on a Fox, thus tending to acquire the fatal
habit of expecting their Fox to be found for them
instead of finding him themselves. If he indeed
waits for all his Hounds to get through the fence
and then trots away silently, hoping some time or
other to meet them in the covert, the puppies will
very naturally begin to wonder what has become
of him, and will creep out of the covert by the same
way they got in and follow on his track, so that
soon after he gets inside, instead of finding every
Hound busy drawing, he will perhaps find the old
ones, who know more about hunting than he does,
drawing for their Fox; but will find the young
ones looking at his horse's tail, or, worse still, the
drawing-party will very likely disturb some riot
which may cross the ride in full view of the puppies,
who wiU not be slow to take advantage of the treat,
with an effect on their moral that will take weeks
HUNTING THE FOX 48
to correct. If he had used his voice outside the
covert, they would know where he was, and would
the more readily tend to leave him and help the
old Hounds to draw, instead of coming back to
look for him at the place where they last saw him.
The advantage of scientific over slipshod methods
cannot be better illustrated than by a comparison
between the right and the wrong way of putting
Hounds into covert and getting them to draw.
How often one hears that a certain pack of Fox-
hounds draw well, while another pack is slack in
drawing. If the truth were only known, the slack-
ness is probably due to a faulty technique on the
part of the Huntsman rather than to the disposition
of the Hounds. No doubt some individual Hounds
draw better than others, and will find a Fox in
spite of any Huntsman. But there is good ground
for the opinion that the capacity of the pack as a
whole to spread and draw well is an acquired rather
than an inherited characteristic.
However, we will now imagine that aU is well.
Every Hound is out of sight ** examining with
curious nose each likely haunt," and the Huntsman
is well away from them either in rear or on a flank,
encouraging them with his voice while he awaits
the thrill of the first find of the season. And let
it be a find. If a whipper-in sees a Cub cross a
ride he must not holloa. He can tell the Huntsman
very quietly, who can then turn his horse's head
44 HUNTING THE FOX
in the required direction, go on drawing, and give
his Hounds the chance of crossing the line of their
game. At all costs during Cub-hunting they must
either find, or think they have found, their Fox
for themselves. This is the way to teach them
to hunt. If the Cub is unkennelled where the
underwood is short and he can be easily viewed,
some Huntsmen *^ see red " and cannot resisjt the
temptation of galloping and holloaing at him to
try to turn him into their mouths. This gipsy-
like practice cannot be too strongly condemned.
It usually results in a noisy and undignified exhibi-
tion of failure, with possibly a stubbed horse or a
catastrophic encounter with a blind ditch. In the
meantime he will have got the Hounds' heads up,
and probably have caused the Cub to make a sharp
turn, with the result that the Hounds overrun the
line and can only be induced to hunt again after
the loss of much time and tissue. Even if, for
once, he baffles the Cub so that he is caught before
he is well on his legs, little or no good is done.
The young Hounds will not know what they are
after, and the breaking up of the Cub will be a
half-hearted affair, if indeed they will eat him at
all. No. When the Cub is unkennelled, particu-
larly in view, aU hands should be silent and still,
and the Hounds should be allowed to do the rest.
The object of Cub-hunting is to teach the puppies
to hunt, and to confirm the entered Hounds in the
HUNTING THE POX 45
practice of catching their Foxes at the end of the
run and not at the beginning.
As soon as the first Cub is afoot the rest of the
litter will also be roused, and the Hounds may
soon be divided into two or more lots. If there is
anything like a scent the whippers-in should not
try to stop the Hounds to one lot, but should rather
try to take positions where they may prevent any
one lot breaking covert after the old Fox. The
entire staff should now keep quiet and save their
horses. The Huntsman should trot about the
rides, awaiting the next phase of the operation.
The old dog Fox will almost certainly leave the
covert as soon as he hears the cry. But it should
not be forgotten that the old vixen will very likely
dodge about the covert to the very last minute in
the hope of saving her Cubs by diverting attention
to herself. And at this time of year some vixens
when viewed at a certain distance, are apt to be
mistaken for Cubs. On a certain memorable
morning in the Midlands, every Fox except one
had apparently left the covert and the pack all
got together on one line. The first whipper-in,
who was no novice, viewed the hunted one away
and assured the Hunts|nan that he was after a
Cub. The deluded man blew his Hounds away,
expecting to handle a beaten Cub every minute.
Imagine his surprise at being treated to a nine-
mile point, at the end of which the Hounds ran
46 HUNTING THE FOX
into the old vixen. But we will bar accidents for
the moment and picture to ourselves one of those
propitious mornings when the different lots have
worked the Cubs with a fair cry for» say, two
hours. The advantages of letting each lot hunt
its own Cub are now apparent. Much tissue has
been saved to both man and horse which would
have been expended in rating and abusii^ the
Hounds for doing the very thing they were brought
out to do. Not only that, all the Cubs have been
kept on their legs and are beginning to get tired
at the same moment, so that as soon as one is
caught and eaten it may not be very difficult to
clap the Hounds on to another leg -weary Cub
and crown the morning's training with yet another
taste of blood. With a view to doing this, it is a
good thing to leave the second whipper-in and
second horseman to watch the rides while the first
Cub is being eaten, so that, if they see another,
the Huntsman knows whereabouts to draw up to
him later on. But we have not yet killed our Fox.
The Huntsman must judge the moment when the
opportunity arises to get all parties together on
to one Cub. Sooner or later one party will usually
become stronger than the others and gradually
absorb the smaller ones. The Huntsman can help
the concentration by riding to the head of the now
official party, cheering them, and sounding his
horn when they cross a ride. The whole pack is
HUNTING THE POX 47
now settled to one Cub. Some Huntsmen will try
to have him headed back into one quarter of the
woodland. This policy is of doubtful expediency
unless the Cub is nearly beaten and cannot get
far away from the Hounds, because whenever he
is turned the Hounds tend to overrun the scent,
and the time lost in recovering it on the foil gives
him the opportunity to think, and a fresh lease of
life. It should be tried, however, when the Cub
is almost done, rather than run the risk of changing
on to a fresh Fox in another quarter. When the
Hounds run into their Cub it is probably wise not
to take him away from them. Let them tear him
in pieces while they are angry, and thus leam the
habit of breaking up their Foxes properly while
the Huntsman excites them by horn and voice.
Those who hunt Hounds in mountainous countries,
where they cannot be with them when they kill,
will tell you that Hounds will be content to kill
their Foxes without eating them. This looks as
if the eating of the Fox by the Hounds is not a
natural process, but is really a tour de force, stimu-
lated by the presence and manner of the men in
red coats, before whom they wish to show off,
prompted by a legitimate dash of vanity. Be this
as it may, there is no doubt that the worry is the
right finish to the chase. Nothing can be more
melancholy or indecent than having to leave the
carcase of such a beautiful creature as a Fox
48 HUNTING THE FOX
hanging on a tree, after having vainly performed
numerous antics to entice the Hounds to eat him.
The best way to avoid this depressing anti-climax
is to stand aside when they kill him, and feed
their frenzy by sounding in their ears the right
tocsin of the chase. A puppy has been known
to fight for the head and win it on the very first
morning of Cub-hunting. Let him keep it. The
late Lord Henry Bentinck wrote that ^* a puppy
that has once fought for the head and carried it
home in triumph, trotting in front of the hounds,
will never look at a hare again ; he is made from
that day, and marks himself for a stallion hound."
CHAPTER VI
The Huntsman {continued) — ^Laying Hounds on to a line-
Getting Hounds away from covert on a Fox.
An attempt has been made in the last chapter to
describe a successful morning, when scent and luck
have served and the earths are well stopped. On
these occasions everything seems so easy. But
there will be some scentless mornings which will
test the patience and perseverance of the very
stoutest. The best thing the Huntsman can then
do is to keep on moving and using his voice cheerily,
so as to show his men, his Hoimds, and the Cubs
that he means to persevere. When the Hoimds
cannot speak to a Cub, the only thing that is likely
to keep him on his legs is the soimd of the human
voice ; but, if the covert is too thick for a horse to
go through, it is better to stand still and encourage
the Hounds to draw it rather than dismount and
draw it on foot. The Huntsman only has to do this
a few times for the Hounds to acquire the habit of
never going into a thick place at all unless he gets off
his horse and goes in first to show them the way.
49 S
50 HUNTING THE FOX
Now this proposition contains the kernel of the
true secret of v hunting Hounds, which is always
to endeavour to let the Hounds do everything for
themselves, and even when help is actually given,
to give it in such a manner that they do not know
they are being helped, and think they are acting
on their own initiative. This is why all the great
master minds agree that Hounds, when in a diffi-
culty, should never be meddled with except as a
very last resort. Now in order to carry this idea
into practice it cannot be too often repeated that
the principal part of the technique of the Huntsman
should be to keep his Hoimds always well in front
of him, where he can influence them by a half-
turn of his horse's head, and keep their noses down,
whereas, once he gets in front of them, he may
require two or more men with whips to drive them
after him with their noses in the air. The acquisi-
tion of this art requires some cultivation, and may
be helped by remembering that the Himtsman
must regulate his pace by the pace of the Hounds.
If he does not wish them to get behind his horse,
it seems a simple common-sense rule never to place
himself in ftont of them. Yet many people seem
to forget that on a bad scenting day Hounds will
go slowly, and that on a good scenting day they
will go quickly, and think that the Himtsman can
enliven the proceedings on a poor scent by getting
ahead of his Hoimds and setting the pace himself.
HUNTING THE FOX 51
There never was a greater fallacy. Huntsmen who
adopt this practice are sometimes called quick,
until they have lost Fox after Fox and eventually
find that their reputation has disappeared without
any one being able to give reasons in writing.
The only occasion when the Huntsman should have
his Hoimds kept close to him by his whipper-in,
and make the pace himself, is when he makes up
his mind to go to a holloa, and rightly wishes to
prevent the Hounds hunting any line until he has
laid them on to the Fox he means to hunt. When
he determines to go to a holloa, he should go and
fetch his Hoimds, distract their attention from
what they are doing, and tell them in language
about which there can be no mistake, that he is
going to lay them on to a scent.
But even now he should not get ahead of the
Hoimds. He should carry them with him in his
hand, so that he may be able to lay them all on to
the line together.
And there is much fine art in laying Hoimds on
to a line. The manner in which it is done may
make all the difference in the world to the day's
sport, because, if it is attempted in a haphazard,
unscientific fashion, it will almost surely result in
either dragging them over the line without hitting
it, or in ^^ that fatal piece of bimgling, hitting it
heel-way," the most heart-breaking of all exhibi-
tions. In order to avoid this the Huntsman should.
62 HUNTING THE FOX
as already stated^ have all his Hounds round his
horse well in hand. The next, and the most
important thing of all, is that, before he gets near
the line, he should ascertain beyond all manner
of doubt what is the direction of the Fox's head.
When the Fox has been holloaed over a road or
a ride in a covert this should not be difficult. If
the whipper-in has had to go and fetch the Hunts-
man he can always give him full information on the
way to the place. If the Huntsman is coming to
the holloa, the whipper-in, or whoever has seen
the Fox, should stand on the line with his horse's
head the same way as the Fox has gone. Some
distance— say twenty to thirty yards — ^before the
Huntsman gets to the place where the Fox has
crossed, he should stop and turn his horse's head
in the direction that the Fox has gone, and put all
the Hounds into the covert. He should then ride
quite slowly down the ride or road, so as to give
his Hounds time to spread and get their noses
down. It is better for the Huntsman to keep in
the ride than to go into the covert with his Hounds,
because, by keeping in the ride, he has every Hound
between him and his Fox, and is in a position to
stop any Hound from getting on to the wrong side
of the ride and speaking to the scent heel-way. If
this system is carefully followed, the Hounds will
soon get to learn when the time has come for them
to feel for the scent, and they will get busy at once.
HUNTING THE FOX 68
The Huntsman must not be disappointed if they
do not always speak at once to the scent at the
very place where the Fox is reported to have
crossed, because he may make a sharp turn inside
the covert, as soon as he is out of sight, and may
run parallel to the ride for a few yards before
resuming his original direction ; or it may be one
of those curious days on which Hounds seem to
own the scent better when they are a few yards
to the right or left of the actual line ; or again, if
the Fox is running down wind, the steam from the
horses may spoil the scent for a few yards. Strange
things happen out hunting. It is true, however,
that when you are hunting Hounds there is nothing
more mortifying than to be shown by your own
tried and trusted whipper-in the exact spot where
he last saw the Fox, and then to find that your
Hounds will not own to the scent. But it is certain
that the best way to avoid this distressing experi-
ence is to slow down some time before you get to
the place, so as to give your Hounds plenty of
time to spread and feel for the scent, and they will
sooner or later tell you where their Fox is gone.
To lay Hounds on to a line in the open in the
middle of a field is a Uttle more difficult, but the
principle of the operation is the same, the all-
important thing being to keep them well in hand
and not attempt to lay them on until the direction
of the Fox's head has been definitely ascertained.
54 HUNTING THE FOX
Having found this out, the Huntsman should then
manceuvre so as to get every Hound between him
and his Fox. This can best be done by pulling
up, or slackening his pace, so as to allow the Hounds
to get well in front of his horse. If the Fox has
crossed a field it is a good plan to put the Hounds
through a gate or gap into the field, and for the
Huntsman not to enter the field with them. By
turning his horse's head he can then draw the
Hounds across the line, and as soon as one Hoimd
even has spoken they will all start together merrily,
and will take the credit for themselves. This
method also has the advantage of keeping the riders
off their backs by giving them a field's start. If,
on the other hand, the Huntsman gets ahead of
his Hounds and rides wildly, cap in hand, in the
direction the Fox has gone, with the pack straggling
after him, half the Hounds will be staring at his
horse's tail, while the other half will very likely
strike the scent heel-way if the Fox is travelling
down wind, as is generally the case. The same
tactics should be applied when the Fox has crossed
a road ; the Huntsman should throw his Hounds
over the road, but on no account enter the field
himself. In this way he is so placed that he is
master of the situation ; he can stop Hounds if
they happen to hit the scent heel- way; he can
also prevent the horsemen from entering the field
until every Hound has got his head down and is
HUNTING THE FOX 55
well settled to the Hue. If he jumps the fence out
of the road with the Hounds behind him» every one
else will jump out of the road» and very likely drive
him and the Hounds for two or three fields before
he hits the line, if, indeed, under these circumstances
he is lucky enough to hit it at all. He, moreover,
stands a good chance of being forced into taking
a parallel line to that of the Fox, and he will learn,
without studying Euclid, that two parallel lines
will never meet.
So much for the art of laying Hounds on to a
scent. Let us now find our Fox, and offer some
suggestions for the conduct of the Huntsman in
the field after November 1. On and after this
magic date it will be his first duty to aim at getting
all his Hounds away together as closely as possible
behind the first Fox that leaves the covert. If the
Hounds have found their own Fox and are tied
to him with a good cry, he will be wise to await
events, bearing in mind the golden rule that Hounds
should never be stopped off one Fox and put on
to another, however tempting this proceeding may
appear to be at the moment. Should they throw
up suddenly, and another Fox is holloaed away
when all is silent, it is of course just possible for
a clever Huntsman, if he is up wind of the pack,
to pounce upon the chance like Ughtning and to
carry them away to the holloa. But do not forget
that to do this is to take a liberty which can only
66 HUNTING THE FOX
be justified by complete success^ while a failuie»
or even a partial success, may ruin the whole day.
But there are other occasions when the scent in
covert, particularly in a thick one, may not be so
good, and only a few Hounds have opened. The
whipper-in holloas a Fox away down the wind,
probably the same one that the Hounds have found.
He should not continue holloaing longer than is
necessary to let the Huntsman know that the Fox
is away. The leading Hounds may or may not
go to the holloa. But the worst thing the Himts-
man can do is to gallop off to the holloa with them
and begin blowing his horn for the rest of the pack
when he gets there. The Fox having gone away
down wind, most of the best Hounds will be left
in the thickest part of the covert and may not
hear the horn at all, and at best will get a bad
start, a poor reward indeed for having generously
gone into the thorns and brambles to get the Fox
on his legs, and one that may well make them
rather chary of repeating the process. It is true
that with a certain amount of luck every Hound
may eventually be coimted out of covert, provided
always they do not get on to another Fox on the
way ; but the tail will be separated from the head
by one or two fences, and probably by several
ladies and gentlemen who will have galloped down
wind after the Huntsman in order to get a start,
so that the pack will not get together until the
t
HUNTING THE FOX 67
leading Hounds have come to the first cheek.
Nothing could be more demoralizing.
When the Hounds who are left behind have been
striving with their heads in the air to get to the
f ronty it takes them some time to grasp the situation
when they get there; many valuable moments
are lost before they recover their morcd and put
their heads down ; acute observers will tell you
that under these circumstances, unless there is a
burning scent, things are never quite the same again,
and that a minute or two, apparently lost at the
beginning in giving every Hoimd a good start, is
recovered over and over again in the course of the
run by the concentration and cohesion resulting
from the whole body starting in a mass. In order
to accomplish this, the moment a Fox is holloaed
away down wind the Himtsman should either stand
still or, if necessary, turn back up wind, so as to
get into dose touch with the body of the pack.
He should then tell them that the Fox has gone
and that he wants them. For this purpose he
should reserve one particular call on his horn, a
call that he never sounds except when the Fox has
broken covert, or when he has got his foot upon
the Fox's dead body. Hounds will fly to this note
like nothing on earth, and will come tumbling out
of the thick covert into the ride, or field as the case
may be, only too gladly. The Huntsman then
canters them round to the holloa — where the
68 HUNTING THE POX
whipper-in should be standing on the line, having
stopped any leading Hounds that may have
hunted the Fox through the covert — ^and lays on
both ends of his pack together, so that he gives
each Hound a fair start, and correctly carries out
the first phase in the operation designed for the
purpose of catching his Fox.
CHAPTER VII
The Huntsman in the open — Mr. Thomas Smith's patent
cast — Examples in practice — Some maxims about
casting — ^A sinking Fox.
Let us now imagine that all has gone merrily for a
mile or two. It may be one of those pet days on
which Homids can burst their Fox and run into
him in about half-an-hour, the ladies and gentlemen
having had their work cut out to keep with them.
To all who take part in it, an affair of this kind
is the very elixir of Fox-hunting, probably of all
sport. To the Huntsman it is the quintessence
of his ambition. Sometimes it is suggested that,
inasmuch as the weather and the Hounds and a
certain amount of luck are the only factors, the
Huntsman is merely a passenger. Do not believe
it. The victorious burst is the concentrated result
of weeks and months of careful training, feeding,
and conditioning, and reflects the highest credit
on the man who has been responsible for these
things, to say nothing of his skilful performance
in getting all his Hounds away together on the
69
60 HUNTING THE FOX
back of his Fox. The late Lord Henry Bentinck,
in his own inimitable manner, puts it so well that
it is impossible not to quote him :
"The highest praise that can be given to a
Huntsman is for a fool to say, * We had a great run,
and killed our fox ; as for the Himtsman, he might
have BEEN IN BED.' "
Or the day may be one of those rare days, almost
as delightful as that described, when, although the
pace is not so good. Hounds are able to follow their
Fox without any help wherever he goes, and if
they do not change on to another, to wear him
down in about an hour, or perhaps longer. But
on nine days out of ten, they will be brought to
their noses in less than twenty minutes. In the
meantime, the ideal place for the Huntsman to
ride should have been about a hundred yards to
the right or left rear of the pack, whichever is
down wind of them. He should as far as possible
look ahead, so as to anticipate difficulties, but his
attention should be mainly concentrated on the
leading Hounds, so as to mark the magic spot
where they lose the scent. This faculty is by no
means so easy as it sounds, and to exercise it
correctly requires a practised eye. For instance,
a party of young Hounds, rejoicing in the lead,
sometimes seem to think that the fun is going to
last for ever, and in their exuberance wiD often
drive on, and even throw their tongues for several
HUNTING THE FOX 61
yards past the place where the Fox has turned,
before they will admit their mistake. There is
no animal so masterful and cocksure as a young
dog Hound who has raced for the lead and won it.
The head, therefore, cannot be too carefully
watched, so that if, in the last resort, a cast has to
be made, the Huntsman should always have in the
back of his mind the exact spot where the scent was
actually lost. He also ought to have in the map
of his mind Mr. Thomas Smith's invaluable sketch
of a cast in his Diary of a Huntsman, published in
1888. This sketch as a general guide for recovering
the line after the Hounds have done trying for
themselves, and when there is nothing to indicate
where the Fox has gone, cannot be beaten ; it is
hardly too much to say that it ought to be hung
up on the wall over every Huntsman's bed. A
Huntsman who will be content to follow the
principle of it, and set his face against fancy casts,
will be surprised how his Foxes will come to hand,
provided always that he knows to a yard where
the scent failed. It is here reproduced, and the
explanation of it cannot be better given than in
Mr. Smith's own words. It should be observed
that Mr. Smith cannot be very far wrong, because,
in the Craven country — ^not the best scenting
country in England — ^he hunted his own Hounds,
and in one season killed ninety Foxes in ninety-one
days. " The principle of it," says Mr. Smith, ** at
62
HUNTING THE FOX
starting, is startling, yet few succeed better, namely,
that of first holding the hounds the way he does
"\
Mb. Smith's Sketch of a Cast.
Ffcm ** The Diary of a HtMiteman/' by Thomiu Smiih, 1888.
HUNTING THE FOX 68
not think the fox is gone. Thus, when at a check,
and the pack have made their own swing, he then
holds them romid to the right or left, whichever is
most up wind ; consequently this side would have
been the most unlikely ; for they probably would
not have checked at first had it been right, owing
to its being rather up wind, when, if it does happen
to be right, they hit it off directly, so that it takes
scarcely a minute to hold them round back, behind
the spot where they checked, about a hundred
yards or so. He then turns and takes a little
wider circle back, to the left the same distance,
till he reaches, or nearly so, the line he came to
behind the check at first. Now having ascertained
for certain that his fox is not gone back, or short
to the right or left, he can with confidence begin
a wider cast than he would have ventured to make
otherwise, owing to a fear that the fox had headed
back, or to the right or left. The wide cast he
commences on the left from behind, progressing,
according to his judgement, and selecting the best
scenting ground forward, beyond any fallow or
bad scenting ground. As he now knows that the
fox must be gone on, this cast is continued all
round in front, and to the right, till he again reaches
the line behind ; he then takes a wider cast either
way, and is guided by circumstances : but nineteen
times out of twenty this last is not required, except
the fox is headed some distance back, and the
64 HUNTING THE FOX
steam and stain of the horses prevents the hounds
feeling the scent, the quick first cast back. If
there is no wind to guide him, there may be a cover
to which the fox is gone, on the left ; but still he
holds them first the unlikely side/'
The one contingency that Mr. Smith would
seem to omit is that of the Fox having gone to
ground and the Hounds having failed to mark
him. Those who have studied and applied this
plan can give numerous instances of its success.
Some years ago, on a very cold day in January,
with a steady north wind blowing, a pack of Fox-
hounds had hunted their Fox due west for about
five miles at a fair hunting pace with little or no
help. The first real check then occurred one field
short of a turnpike road running almost due north
and south. Hardly a mile away, straight down
wind on the left or southern flank, was a well-
known stronghold. A man in a one-horse trap was
halted in the road, having heard the Hounds.
He had not seen the Fox, though the Fox might
have seen him. It looked like a thousand to one
that the Fox had turned down the wind to gain
the friendly stronghold, and a very strong tempta-
tion arose to hold them that way. But not for-
getting Mr. Thomas Smith, the short up-wind cast
was tried, nearly back to the original line ; in less
than two minutes they hit him off and raced into
him in the middle of a grass field three miles farther
HUNTING THE FOX 65
on, over the road. What had probably happened
was that the Fox had seen the man in the trap,
turned three-quarters right about, and then crossed
the road to make his original point,— an eight-
mile point, and with the exception of the sharp
turn just described, nearly straight all the way.
The seemingly obvious down-wind cast would no
doubt have saved the Fox, while Mr. Smith's recipe
undoubtedly killed him.
On another day Mr. Smith was almost forgotten,
and yet in spite of the fact that he was only tried
as an afterthought, the Fox was killed in a neigh-
bouring country after a fine run. The Hoimds
had thrown up at a point marked X on the map,
at the end of a grass lane which was crossed by a
field road making a T-shaped junction of roads.
In the comer of a field, at the top of the T on the
left front, a flock of sheep had run together at a
point marked C on the map. The wind was blowing
from the west, or left of the line. The Himtsman
naturally held the Hounds beyond the sheep to
point C, but with no response. He should now
have held them up wind to the left nearly back to
the original line, and then have held them round
the front as far as the right rear to point B on the
map, so as to draw a complete cordon roimd X,
the spot where they last had the scent. Instead
of that he began with a down-wind cast only as
far as the point A on the map, and announced that
r
66
HUNTING THE FOX
he had lost his Fox. To get back up wind through
''--.,
the horses was a matter of some di£Eiculty. As a
HUNTING THE FOX 67
last resort, therefore, he was asked at least to
complete his down-wind circle. Luckily the Fox
had not turned up wind, so he hit him off when he
had got nearly back to the right of the origincd line
at point B on the map. The Hounds hunted
slowly into a long covert on the side of a hill a mile
down wind, from which the hunted Fox was
luckily viewed away. This gave the Hounds a
new chance, and they got on to terms with him
and killed him in a patch of gorse bushes after
another three miles, the pace quickening every
minute. At the place where the check occurred
the Fox had probably been headed, turned back
on his own line, and eventually re-made his point.
This is a vcduable concrete example of the vital
necessity of completing the circle and covering
all the ground when making a cast. When a cast
has to be made, it must be scientific, and not
sketchy. Nothing can be worse for a yoimg Hunts-
man than to make a vague drift down wind and
then to have the luck to hit off either his own Fox
or another one. He will be lauded to the skies
for having made what is called a ^^ bold forward
cast,'' and will think he is going to do the same
thing every time. Deluded Huntsman I The next
time, and the next, he will get farther and farther
from his Fox, and those who were foremost in
praising him on the ruinously lucky day will now
become his most mordant detractors. ^^A nice
68 HUNTING THE FOX
fellow, but he never kills his Foxes. It is all over
with him at the first check.*' If he had followed
the Thomas Smith principle, the worst that the
most inveterate crabber could say would be, ^^ Oh 1
he is a bit slow ; I can't make out how he does it,
as he often seems to cast back ; but somehow or
other he kills his Foxes." To sum up, then, the
things to be remembered by the Huntsman in
making a cast are, first, the place where the leading
Hounds last had the scent ; second, to follow the
general direction of circles up and down wind
already described; third, to keep every Hoimd
either in front of him or well away on his flank ;
fourth, never to force the pace, but to regulate it
by the pace of the Hounds, bearing in mind that,
with a burning scent, they can be cast almost at a
gallop, and that with a poor scent they can only be
cast at a walk. (It may here be remarked that
some Huntsmen always make their casts at the same
pace, usually the trot, which must surely be a
mistake, resulting in either casting over the line
or else in clausing the pack to straggle when they
should all be together ; the cast should be made
at the highest speed at which cohesion can be
maintained) ; and fifth, to keep his whipper-in
inside, and not outside the circle. The Hounds
will always revolve on the circle of which their
Huntsman is the pivot, if he will say a word to
them from time to time when they lose sight of him
HUNTING THE FOX e9
owing to the fences or fonnation of the ground.
They should need no whipper-in to turn their
heads, if the Huntsman knows how to handle
them; to say nothing of the fact that in most
countries the fences will not allow the whipper-in
to ride round the outside of the circle. He had
far better, while the cast is being made, ride behind
the Huntsman, save his horse, and make himself
useful by getting the gates open ; though, if both
men are there, the second whipper-in might profit-
ably sink the wind and perhaps give the Huntsman
a good lift. Should he be lucky enough to get a
view, or obtain sound information, he should let
the Huntsman know as quietly as he can, point
with his cap the direction of the Fox, and, if possible,
meet the Huntsman so as to tell him all about it
on his way to the holloa. The Huntsman, even
if he views the Fox himself, should take hold of his
Hounds quite quietly and canter them up to the
place where the Fox was last seen.
One more maxim about casting and we have
done. It is indeed contained in Mr. Thomas Smith's
advice, though not explicitly stated. It is, always to
try to recover the line at the nearest possible point
to where it was lost, and never to yield to the
temptation to get nearer the Fox by getting ahead
of this point, and trust to striking the line farther
on, however strong the probability of success may
appear. This maxim also applies in going to a
70 HUNTING THE FOX
holloa. One fine day a Fox was found in a small
covert on the north side of a road that runs from
Bristol to Hull. The Fox went away up wind,
and ran for three fields parallel to the road in the
direction of Hull. He then made a sharp turn to
the right, and the Hounds overran the scent,
flashing rather wildly for a hundred yards or so.
One of the Staff who had not left the road saw the
Fox cross the road, but could not see him beyond
it. He held up his cap, and as the Huntsman
approached gave him full information. The Hunts-
man jumped in and out of the road, carried his
Hoimds with him, made a wide circle round the
open fields, expecting to pick up the scent every
second, but never crossed the line at all. Being
anxious to show sport to an eager Field, he no doubt
thought that this risk was worth taking in order
to save time. What he ought to have done was
to have laid on his Hounds at the exact place in
the fence where his man saw the Fox leave the
road. No one, indeed, could have reasonably foimd
fault with him even if he had made assurance
doubly sure and laid them on at the place in the
fence where the Fox had been seen to enter the road,
and let them himt him out of it. Either of these
courses was a certainty ; the course he actually
took was a speculation, which spoilt the run.
Let us now suppose that the check has been
successfully dealt with. Unless the Fox has turned
HUNTING THE FOX 71
up windy or his line has been quickly recovered on
the first short down-wind cast, he will have gained
some ground, and the pace will now very likely
become slower, until he begins to tire and the
Hounds begin to work up to him. So far we have
imagined the chase to have taken place over the
open country; but few runs of any length are
recorded in which no coverts are touched. If the
Fox goes into a small covert the Hoimds should be
allowed to hunt his line into it. It is tempting
to take them off their noses and try to hit the line
on the other side. But the danger of hitting off
the line of a fresh Fox who has moved on hearing
the cry is too great to warrant this speculative
practice, while, if no Fox has left the covert, the
Hoimds will have been taken off their noses and
deceived, with nothing to show for it ; though, if
a clever whipper-in has seen the beaten Fox go
away, the manoeuvre can be, and probably ought
to be, tried. If the himted Fox goes pto a wood-
land or chain of coverts, say in a park, the Hunts-
man should keep as near the leading Hounds as
he can, and constantly soimd his horn and voice.
This lets his men and his field know the direction
of the chase, holds the pack together, and tends
to keep the Fox's head straight. Some say that
this also tends to move fresh Foxes out of the way
and thus reduce the risk of changing Foxes. An
acute observer once said that from time to time a
72 HUNTING THE FOX
hunted Fox will stop to listen, and if he hears
nothing will often tium. If he hears his pursuers,
either human or animal, he wiU usually go straight
on. At this phase of the rim it is of no avail for
either whipper-in to get too far ahead for a view.
If the Fox keeps fairly strfdght the Hounds will
hunt his line. If he turns right or left, the man
who has posted on will very likely be thrown out,
and therefore not be available at the very moment
when his Huntsman most wants his help to con-
centrate on a sinking Fox. The right place on
these occasions for the first whipper-in is on a ride,
or on the outside of the covert not far away from,
and parallel to, the Huntsman. The second
whipper-in should be back, and never go on to
the next covert or quarter in a woodland until the
whole chase is thoroughly well committed to fresh
ground, because a sinking Fox, or a Fox who is
even beginning to be tired, wiU so often try to
shake off his enemies by turning short back in
covert. Then when the Hounds throw up, the
timely holloa from the wise man who is looking
back is worth anything and has killed many a
Fox, while the noses of the Foxes whose lives have
been saved by the whole establishment posting
forward would cover all the kennel doors in the
British Isles.
CHAPTER Vin
The importance of technique — ^The exercise of patience —
The love of Foxhounds.
In the foregoing chapters some suggestions have
been offered as to how the Huntsman should act at
various phases of the run. Every one who knows
anything about Fox-hunting will say with truth
that the exact application of the teachings of
science cannot always be carried out in the hunting-
field, any more than a Cavalry operation can on
all occasions, even on peace manoeuvres, minutely
follow the drill-book. Yet in either case ignorance
or neglect of certain rules will generally bring its
own punishment in the long run. Although on
occasion these rules have to be thrown to the winds,
the successful Huntsman will always have them
in his mind and apply them nine times out of ten.
On the tenth occasion his very knowledge of the
rules of his art may give him the privilege and the
power of attempting the briUiant coup. Some
people would seem to think that the true Hunts-
man does everything by the light of nature. This
73
74 HUNTING THE FOX
proposition opens the door to the old question,
" What is genius ? " Whether or no it be really
the ^^ infinite capacity for taking pains " is a matter
that will not be pursued here. But it can be
asserted without fear of contradiction that no
Huntsman has ever risen to eminence without
understanding the science and art of Fox-hunting,
and being fortified in his application of them by
the never-varying use of an intelligent and in-
telligible technique. The method and style of
handling Hounds both before and after finding the
Fox have already been dealt with. The proper use
of the horn and voice remain to be considered.
These are of primary importance, being the instru-
ments through which the Huntsman expresses
himself to his Hounds, his men, and his Field.
They should both be used with the same purpose
and in the same manner. Their import should be
clear beyond all manner of doubt to all parties
concerned. Each phase of the Hunt has its appro-
priate dog-language and appropriate notes on the
horn, which should always be used at the proper
time — ^and on no other occasion. For instance,
any one who understands Fox-hunting should be
able to stand a mile down wind of the Himtsman
and tell by the ear alone exactly what he is doing
when he has unkennelled a Fox in covert. The
horn need never be usedj^as a general rule until the
Fox is found, though, when approaching a small
HUNTING THE FOX 76
thick covert after the whipper-m has been posted
to view him away» it is legitimate, and perhaps
desirable, to blow a short blast to wake up the Fox
before Homids are put in, and save him from being
chopped ; and, in drawing a woodland, the Hunts-
man can with advantage blow the same short
blast as a signal if he turns round to draw back,
whilst he should also cry " Yo Hote back, Yooi
over try back " two or three times. It is difficult
to describe notes on the horn in writing ; perhaps
it will be understood if the note in question is
described as being sober, consisting of two beats,
and containing no element of pulsation or excite-
ment ; these should be reserved until the Fox is
afoot. When the Fox is found in a small covert
the Huntsman had better be silent, his object being
to take no advantage of the Fox at this moment
and to let him get away. Sometimes the imlucky
chop is imavoidable, but if a Huntsman chops
more than, say, two or three Foxes in the season,
it is not too good a sign of chivalrous intentions.
But in a woodland where the Fox can take care of
himself, he can rattle his pack up to the leading
Hoimds, if he is near them, by a view holloa or
two and a succession of short, sharp notes on the
horn, not more than seven or nine in number.
The same horn and holloa should be soimded when
the chase crosses a ride, or when he gets a view
in covert and wants his Hounds. A limited
76 HUNTING THE FOX
number of notes on the horn is advised in covert
in order to form as great a contrast as possible
to the long call, which must be sounded when the
Fox breaks covert. Each Huntsman will probably
have his own particular call to get his Hounds out
of covert, but should have the imagination to
make his horn speak in harmony to this thrilling
moment*
Before soimding his horn the Huntsman should
invariably holloa " Cop forrard away " as loudly
and clearly as he can. This is the final and execu-
tive word of command, which should always be
given by the great man himself. The pulsations
of the long call on the horn that follows should be
sustained as long as he has breath in his body,
and should be renewed until every Hoimd is away
and the great adventure in the open is definitely
laimched. The horn should now be returned to
the horn case, and need not be taken out again
until another covert is entered, or the Fox is killed,
run to ground, or lost. The horn need hardly ever
be blown in the open, and certainly never should
be used when casting, because in the open the
Hounds are, or ought to be, in front of the horses.
A possible exception to this rule may occur when
Hounds divide ; when the whipper-in has stopped
his lot, and their heads are up, a timely note or
two may be invaluable in recalling them to the
Huntsman's lot. Do not forget that they can
HUNTING THE FOX 77
sometimes hear the horn when they cannot hear
the cry of the other Hoiinds. When the Himtsman
has his Fox in his hand or has nm to ground, the
same call may be used as in breaking covert.
YHien a covert is drawn blank, the appropriate
call on the horn can best be described as a long-
drawn wail. The same call can be used for going
home, or for calling on stray Hounds. When all
the Hounds are on, the Staff should be informed
by two short, sharp notes sounded in quick suc-
cession.
The above are only general indications, as the
method of sounding of the English himting-hom
cannot be expressed in terms of music, as is possible
with the more elaborate French instrument. Yet
our Huntsmen can, if they cultivate the art, make
the short horn speak quite as humanly and clearly
as the French Huntsmen can the long one, and
can even put more individual character into it,
not being tied and bound by an exact musical
phrase. The horn recommended is the rather deep-
noted " Goodall," which seems to give forth a finer
resonance and to be audible at a longer distance
than any other horn. Its soimd might be called a
" twang " rather than a ** tweet," to use Mr. Surtees*
description that appears in most of his works.
A description, however, on paper of the tones of
the horn and voice is naturaUy imperfect, because
the thrill that can be afforded by their melody is
78 HUNTING THE FOX
indeed indescribable. But whether the Huntsman
be melodious or not, there is no excuse for his not
being audible and explicit.
The horn and voice are organs that are given
to him not only to inspire others, but also to make
himself understood. In a woodland the unforgiv-
able sin is to indulge in long periods of silence.
One of the surest signs of incompetence is the
sight of stray Hounds standing about and listening
for their Huntsman, or running vaguely down the
rides, probably in the opposite direction to where
he is, trying to find him. It is not only waste of
time for Hounds to be himting the Huntsman
instead of hunting the Fox, but also creates waste
of time later on when the pack has to be called
together to draw another covert. Two or more
couple are wanting. If he has to abandon them
altogether, he is exposing them to all sorts of bad
habits and dangers. Nothing is worse for a Hound
than to be ** ungummed " and be left to his own
devices. He becomes independent. He is at
liberty to hunt hares, fill himself with garbage, or
go home. If the Huntsman stands still and blows
for the stray Hoimds, valuable time is lost, and
much noise made, which may disturb Foxes and
so cause trouble. A man is sent back for them,
the Staff is depleted of his services at the very
moment when they may be most wanted.
All these things would be avoided by a clear
HUNTING THE FOX 79
and correct use of the horn and voice at an earlier
phase. Prevention is better than cure. The Hunts-
man as a general rule ought to be able to produce
all his pack at any given moment, and should be
miserable if any of them are missing. Nor is it a
good sign if you ride up to a whipper-in in a wood-
land and ask him where the Huntsman is, and he
says, ^' I don't know, I have not heard him for a
long time." This may be the boy's own fault for
getting too far up wind — ^a not uncommon failing —
but as often as not it is due to vagueness and lack
of thought on the part of the Huntsman ; the
Huntsman who is best served is he who makes
himself the most intelligible to the Hounds, his
men, and his Field.
So much for technique, or the control of the
mechanical aids to the chase. What other qualities,
besides the power to use these aids effectively,
should distinguish the Himtsman with whom we
should all like to hunt ? Many pages have been
written setting them forth. If, indeed, he enjoys
the equipment of body and mind that Mr. Jorrocks
demanded in his famous advertisement for a Hunts-
man at the he€kd of the nineteenth chapter of
Handley Cross, he should go very far. In accepting
James Pigg, Mr. Jorrocks certainly had to dispense
with a great many of the perfections that he postu-
lated in the columns of the Handley Cross Paul Pry.
No wonder that the advertisement produced ^^ an
80 HUNTING THE FOX
immense sensation in the world of servitude."
But although we will not follow Mr. Jorrocks'
inimitable counsel of perfecticm, there are at least
two mental qualities that are indispensable to a
successful Huntsman. These are without doubt
Patience and a Love of Foxhounds.
Now to hunt down a very wild animal with a
pack of Foxhounds in the shortest possible time
requires a good deal of what some people call dash,
and others would call varmint or devil. It is
perhaps not too much to say that no Huntsman will
be really brilliant imless he has a certain excit-
ability somewhere in his temperament, at least a
latent capacity for getting his blood up. U he is
wholly deficient in this regard, he may indeed be
patient, but he will be so patient that he will get
farther and farther behind his Fox every day he
goes out, and never kill one at all above ground
except by accident. But the power to combine
patience with other elements of a somewhat
opposite character is not given to every man.
Yet it should be assiduously cultivated by the
Huntsman. He certainly has every chance to
learn it, because there is no school for patience
more severe than that of himting the Fox. The
blanks are many and the prizes are few. U on
coming home without his Fox he will fairly examine
the causes of his failure, he will generally find he
has lost more Foxes by being in a bad hurry than
HUNTING THE FOX 81
by being what some people call slow. In the
pursuit of the Pox everything depends upon
system; and without patience no sound system
can be thoroughly carried out.
To begin with, it is obvious that the cover
must be carefully drawn. In an earlier chapter an
attempt has been made to explain that a momentary
exercise of patience is essential to getting all the
Hoimds out of covert together when the Fox is
holloaed away. Even more important is the period
of patience when they throw up their heads at a
check.
But more telling than all is the patient self-
control that must be used when the Fox is nearly
beaten. And more diflficult, because the blood is
up and the moment of victory would seem to be
at hand. Strange as it may seem, it tnay some-
times be a hindrance rather than a help for some
one to catch sight of the beaten Fox a field or two
away at the moment when the Hounds are slowly
but surely himting up to him. The temptation
to give them a lift is wellnigh irresistible. The
Huntsman will have shown the Hounds by his
manner that he has got a view, and, by the time
he gets them to the place where the Fox was last
seen, the Fox will have got through the next fence,
or very likely lain down in it. The Hounds will
have their heads up expecting to be shown their
Fox, and will not readily put them down again.
o
82 HUNTING THE FOX
In the meantime the riders will have carried the
Huntsman and Hoimds clean past the Fox, who,
if he has the luck not to be seen lying down, and
the sense not to get up imtil his enemies are out
of sight, will save his brush. The golden rule on
these occasions is never to take Hounds off their
noses unless it is absolutely certain that they can
get a view, as when the Fox is crawling across the
middle of a hundred-acre field. Of course if the
Fox is heading for a covert known to be full of
firesh Foxes, or for an open earth, the tour deforce
of lifting the Hounds must be tried. This was
done with success one evening when Hounds had
been himting a ringing Fox for two hours with a
poor scent. The first whipper-in viewed him dead-
beat making his way straight for a large woodland,
where he was nearly sure to put up a fresh one.
The orthodox practice had to be abandoned,
because, with failing light and scent, the Hounds
could not have hunted up to him before he gained
the stronghold for which he was heading. The
whipper-in was sent on to keep the Fox in view
and to try to head him off from the covert which
lay about a mile away. The Huntsman took the
Hounds off the line, galloped them on, and these
two men played into each other's hands so cleverly
that the dog Hounds knocked their Fox over just
outside the wood — and came home happy. On
another occasion the lift was tried, but failure was
HUNTING THE FOX 88
only averted by the intelligence of one of the Staff,
who did not forget to look back. The bitch pack
had brought their Fox across the vale at a good
pace for fifty minutes, and came to a check in a
turnpike road — no doubt owing to the Fox having
turned right or left in the road before crossing it.
The Huntsman, seeing him creeping up the side
of a fence about three hundred yards ahead,
caught hold of the Hounds and tried to lay them
on at the spot where he last saw the Fox, near a
haystack close to the fence. No response. He
then held them vaguely on without a line for
nearly half a mile, followed by the whole Field. In
the meantime one of the Staff wisely reconnoitred
the ground where the Fox was last seen, and
marked him l}dng closely tucked under the hay-
stack. He was luckily able to send a friend to
bring the Huntsman back while he stayed and
watched the Fox. On this occasion it is clear that
only by a clever piece of staff work was the view
prevented from, being fatal to the Himtsman.
Had he not caught sight of the Fox and yielded
to the natural temptation to lift his Hounds, they
would soon have hit the line out of the road and
worked up to their Fox by themselves.
Experience should tend to cultivate the faculty
of patience. Patience in the face of a persistent
run of bad luck : patience at critical moments in
the hunting-field.
84 HUNTING THE FOX
Add to Patience the Love of Foxhounds.
It is often said that some men are ^^ doggy " by
nature, and possess some charm that makes all
dogs love and obey them. Whether this is true
or not is incapable of proof. But there is no manner
of doubt that the practice of common sense and
the cultivation of sjrmpathy will go a very long
way in the art of dealing with a pack of Foxhounds
in the field.
The first essential for the Huntsman to bear in
mind is never to lose his temper with the Hoimds,
nor even to speak harshly to them. He may lose
his temper with his Field, his men, or his horse,
though he had much better keep smiling with all
three. But once he loses his temper with his
Hounds he gets out of tune with them, and his
whole influence over them has vanished.
A pack of Foxhounds is seldom in quite the same
mood two days running, being keenly influenced
by the scent and the weather. On some days they
appear to be wild and headstrong, on other days
listless and slack. But whatever they do, the
Himtsman should always place the most favourable
construction on their proceedings, and be ready
to take all the blame for himself ; he should never
be in such a frame of mind as to blame his Hounds.
Of course it is a fatal mistake to be overcome by
sentiment to the extent of being lenient to rogues,
especially if they are mute. A mute Hound should
HUNTING THE FOX 86
always be put down at once. Some Huntsmen
are apt to get too fond of old Hoimds, or to spoil
certain Hoimds who have made a lucky hit and
so got them out of a difficulty. A certain dog
Hoimd once puzzled out the line of a Fox down
the middle of a road and put everybody right.
The Himtsman was so pleased at this that, whenever
his Fox had run down a road, he relied exclusively
on this dog, who soon foimd this out and from
that moment had the poor man completely at his
mercy. He would put his nose down whenever
he got on a road, travel down the road with or
without a line, and even look back from time to
time as if to invite the Himtsman to follow him,
and so caused the loss of Fox after Fox by drawing
the whole establishment after him long past the
place where the Fox had turned out of the road.
No. A pack of Hoimds should be hunted collect-
ively and not individually ; the love of Hounds
should never degenerate into favouritism.
CHAPTER rX
The Foxhound — ^Mr. Barry and Mr. Meynell — ^The modem
Foxhound — ^Foxhound Shows — ^Rounding.
The modem Foxhound is bred, or ought to be
bred, with a sound constitution, contained in a
graceful, elegant, and symmetrical body of a size
which is neither bulky nor insignificant. This
type has now held the field for about one hmidred
and seventy years. The middle of the eighteenth
century marks the evolution in the breeding of
Foxhounds for courage, stoutness, and speed.
Before that time our ancestors were satisfied with
something very much slower. They apparently
kept Hounds who had to be taken out at an im-
dignified hour in the morning to drag up their Fox
in the hopes of getting on to terms with him before
he had properly digested his supper, perhaps
killing him after a leisurely stem chase lasting
well into the afternoon. But this pottering style
did not suit the ardent spirit of such pioneers as
Hugo Meynell, John Musters, and John Smith-
Barry. During the decade 1760-1760 the modem
86
HUNTING THE FOX 87
system of unkennelling the Fox at a gentlemanly
hour in the morning, and bursting him by the
speed and condition of the Hound, was successfully
launched. The best evidence of the new pace is
afforded by the celebrated match at Newmarket,
which took place in 1762. A match was made
between Mr. Meynell and Mr. Barry, each to run
a couple of his Hounds a drag, from the rubbing-
house at Newmarket town-end to the rubbing-
house at the starting-post Beacon-course, a distance
of four and a half miles, for five himdred guineas.
After the match was made, the famous Will
Crane was invited to train Mr. Barry's couple of
Hoimds, of which Bluecap was four and Wanton
three years old. Crane at first objected to their
being Hounds that had been entered, and wished
for young Hounds, who might probably be taught
with more certainty to run a drag ; his motion,
however, was set aside, and the Hounds were sent
to Rivenhall, in Essex. As Crane had foretold, at
the first trials to induce them to run the drag they
took no notice ; but at length, by dragging a Fox
along the ground, and then crossing the Hounds
upon the scent, and taking care to let them kill
him, they became more handy to a drag, and had
their exercise regularly three times a week upon
Tip-tree Heath ; the ground chosen was turf, and
the distance over which it was taken was from
eight to ten miles. The dogs were in training
88 HUNTING THE POX
for one month, their food consisting of oatmeal,
milk, and boUed sheep's trotters. On the 80th of
September the drag was drawn over the distance
previously agreed on, and the four Hounds were
laid on the scent : Mr. Barry's Bluecap came in
first ; Wanton, very close to Bluecap, second ;
Mr. Meynell's Richmond was beaten by upwards
of a himdred yards, and his second, a bitch, never
ran in at all : the course was covered in eight
minutes and a few seconds. Threescore horses
started with the Hounds.
Copper, Mr. Barry's Huntsman, was the first
up, but the mare he rode was completely blind at
the finish. There were only twelve horses up out
of the sixty ; Will Crane, who was mounted upon
Rib, a King's Plate horse, only finished twelfth.
The odds, before starting, were seven to four in
favour of Mr. Meynell, whose Hoimds it was said
were fed, during the time of training, entirely
with legs of mutton. This epoch-making affair is
immortalized by Sartorius in pictures belonging
to the present Lord Banymore, who also has, at
Marbury Hall, a portrait of Bluecap by an unknown
artist, which perhaps may not do justice to the
subject. Two structural points, however, are
interesting, being sjrmptoms of speed : the forearm
is placed imder the very foremost part of the
shoulder, and the hocks are well let down.
And so the modem Foxhound was evolved from
HUNTING THE FOX 89
models like Mr. Barry's Bluecap, and Mr, Corbet's
Trojan, bred for quality, stoutness, and speed.
It is sometimes argued that one type of Foxhound
is not enough, because different countries require
different Hounds. The vaUdity of this maxim is
doubtful. In a sense it may be true that a coarse,
bulky, heavy - shouldered brute, who would be
ridden over in the first field in the Midlands, might
manage to hide his congenital defects and keep out
of the way of underbred horses in a cramped
country where small enclosures are fenced from
each other by impossible banks. But in truth
there is no country where a well-bred Hound of
the middle size, with good neck and shoulders,
will not hold his own with any other sort that has
yet been bfed, besides being far more pleasing
to the eye.
Let us try to describe him in a little more detail.
He stands not less than twenty-three, and not more
than twenty-four inches high. He has a lean head,
rather conical than flat, with a delicately chiselled
muzzle ; dark, full, luminous eyes, denoting keen-
ness and intelligence ; dose-lying ears, small and
pointed. His long neck, with the line of the throat
quite clean, is supported by sloping shoulders,
at the foremost point of which his fore-legs are set
on, with knees near to the ground, plumb straight
whether viewed from the side or the front. His
feet are round without being fleshy, with the toes
90 HUNTING THE FOX
close together. His fore-ribs are deep» but not so
widely sprung as to push his shoulders forward.
The upward curve of the under-line is not unduly
pronounced, even when he has not been fed for
twenty-four hours. His muscular back is flat and
straight right up to the point where his feathery
and delicately curved stem is set on. The thighs
are wide and muscular, supported by straight hocks
near to the ground like his knees. His coat is
smooth, glossy, and so supple that you can pick
up a handful of it from his back and see it glide
back into its place the moment it is released.
A Hound built on these lines would be difficult
to beat in any country. If, however, we wish to
perpetuate the type, the question arises whether
the mating of dogs and bitches of the middle size
may not tend to breed Hounds that are too small,
until eventually we get our Foxhounds as small
as harriers. There seems to be no danger of that
at present. ^^Keep your own hoimds of the
middle size," said an old breeder, ^' and you
can always go to other kennels where they keep
big ones for a stallion hoimd." But the prob-
ability is that in many Kennels during the last
fifty years the more massive sort has become the
more fashionable.
The celebrated Brocklesby Rallywood, entered in
1848, with Sir Richard Sutton's and Mr. Osbaldis-
ton's best blood in his veins, came to Belvoir in
HUNTING THE POX 91
1851 in the time of the no less celebrated Will
Goodall, and is said to have made the Belvoir
Pack. Gk>odall fell deeply in love with him, and
bred from him freely. His own opinion of Rally-
wood is quoted by Mr. Collins in his very interesting
History of the Broeklesby Hounds, and is worth
repeating here : ** This is a most beautiful little
short-legged dog, exceedingly light of bone, but with
beautiful legs and feet." From the same book we
learn that '' Druid " in SiUe and Scarlet wrote of
Rallywood that " although good twenty-three, he
was mean to those who like a big hound." This
dog hunted hard for nine seasons, and was certainly
one of the most famous, if not the most famous,
sire of the last century. Yet, from the con-
temporary descriptions of his lack of calibre, he
would not be among the fashionable sires of to-day,
and would look Uke a harrier if he were brought
to the covert-side with some of our modem dog
packs. So there is good ground for the assertion
that during the last fifty years the size of Fox-
hounds has increased. Why ? The explanation
may possibly be found in the growing popularity
of Hound Shows.
There is much to be said for and against a
Hound Show. The most valid argument in favour
of a Hound Show is that it gives prominence to
the value of symmetry. Symmetry in Foxhounds
should be aimed at not because it is good to look
92 HUNTING THE FOX
upon, but because a certain physical structure
enables a Hound to do his work for the longest
possible time in the quickest and easiest manner.
Other things being equal, the good-looking Fox-
hound on the flags should certainly, in the long
run, beat the ugly one in the field. This is the
value of symmetry, and nothing else is. Im-
mediately that a fashionable standard of looks
becomes an arbitrary affair, presented, like one
of M. Poiret's creations, to satisfy caprice with no
reference to utility, then the show-ring becomes
dangerous.
Now the tendency of live-stock shows is to
create an advantage in favour of bulk, particu-
larly when its exhibition is enhanced by generous
feeding. How often does one hear that " a good
big one is better than a good little one." This
standard of judgement may or may not be all very
well when appUed to shire horses, bullocks, or pigs.
But it is all very bad when applied to Foxhounds.
And there can be no doubt whatever that bulk is,
unfortunately, an advantage in a Foxhound Show.
Nowadays a dog of twenty-four inches, an inch
higher than the Brocklesby Rallywood, the Belvoir
Gambler, and the Warwickshire Harper, when
exhibited against modem Peterborough winners
is apt to be described as *^ a smart little dog, but
not big enough," unless, indeed, his structure is
so ultra-perfect that nothing can deny it. This
HUNTING THE FOX 98
does not mean to say that the Peterborough
Foxhound Show should be discontinued. Far
from it. The show is extremely valuable in that
it preserves a standard of symmetry. The danger
is that this standard of symmetry may become a
purely show-ring standard, instead of remaining a
standard of physical structure designed to enable
the Foxhoimd to tire and catch his Fox. But one
Foxhound Show is probably enough. The multi-
plication of shows might lead to pot-hunting with
Foxhounds, the most imthinkable of all calamities.
While we are on the subject of appearance, a
word may be said about rounding Hounds' ears.
This practice is a relic of an age when mutilation
of animals for the sake of appearance was much
more common than it is to-day. Horses' ears,
for instance, were cropped for no other reason
than to gratify contemporary fashion. There could
have been no other reason. It is urged that
Foxhounds' ears are still rounded for certain prac-
tical purposes, such as a healthy letting of blood,
and the avoidance of tearing the ears in brambles
and thorns. And on the other hand it can be
claimed that nature gave Hounds long ears to
protect the ear-hole from water getting into it.
Either of these reasons is open to argument.
But probably the principal reasons are that the
eye has become accustomed to rounded ears, and
that inasmuch as the different shape and length
94 HUNTING THE FOX
of Hounds' ears are accentuated by giving a free
rein to nature, the uniform appearance of a pack
is enhanced by rounding all ears to the same length.
Many people think that all Hounds' ears, however
shapely by nature, look better when they have
been artificially curtailed. So that the matter of
rounding probably resolves itself into a question
of taste. Masters who have abandoned the practice
certainly save their men and Hounds from some
very sanguinary hours in the Kennel. Moreover,
the silken ear of the Hound, untouched by the
knife, lying close to his head, tapering down to a
delicate point, is surely one of nature's endowments
which cannot be improved by human interference.
The average Foxhound is at his or her best
during the third and fourth seasons of hunting.
It is, no doubt, delightful to see the puppies enter-
ing to the sport of their ancestors in their first
season, but they cannot be considered reliable
until they have completed at least two seasons of
Cub-hunting. A bitch may then be mated. But
it is really wise not to breed from a dog Hound
until after the whole of his second season is com-
pleted. In this way he will have done three Cub-
hunting seasons before the time of year arrives
for putting him to the stud, and his stoutness and
steadiness will have been fairly tested. Indeed
the more brilliant a dog puppy appears to be in
his first season, the more chary one should be of
HUNTING THE FOX 95
using him. His pedigree may be spotless, and
the risk may seem a very small one, but his very
brilliancy, fortified by a stroke or two of good luck,
may very easily make him conceited and develop
in his character vices that may be transmitted to
his descendants with disastrous effects to the pack.
Perhaps he may contain in his disposition all the
latent faults of his otherwise illustrious progenitors,
so that to breed from him too early in his career,
until these faults have had a chance of declaring
themselves, is an offence against the principle of
selection which is the secret of true breeding.
Some breeders may say that we have now arrived
at an era in the breeding of Foxhounds when all
pedigrees contain the same strains, so that par-
ticular selection need not be so carefully studied.
This argument pushed to its extremity would seem
to convey that Foxhounds can be produced in-
discriminately like guinea-pigs. Be this as it may,
nothing can ever alter the fact that some Hounds
are better than others, and that, while no bitch
should be kept who is not worth breeding from,
too much trouble cannot be taken in the choice
of a sire. It is well to study constitution in mating
Foxhounds. Given of course tongue, speed, and
steadiness, constitution is the most important
thing of all. Some very highly-bred strains seem
to develop feeble constitutions ; it is therefore
wise to resist the temptation of using a sire because
96 HUNTING THE FOX
he is first-rate in his work, if his food does not do
him any good even when he has been coaxed to
eat it. His descendants will be weak to resist
disease, difficult to rear, and wiU cause much loss
of time and much disappointment.
Breeders' opinions differ as to the degree of
closeness that should be observed in comparing
the pedigrees of a sire and a dam whom it is pro-
posed to mate. It is not necessary to have the
whole Mendelian theory at the fingers' ends» but it
is a good rule of thumb not to aUow the same name
to occur more than once until you get above a line
drawn across the top of the second generation.
That is to say, that every Hound should at least
have different great-grandsires and great-grand-
dams on both sides of the house. When you get
farther back than the second generation the
same names may occur, indeed must occur, dotted
about all over the pedigree chart. This is necessary
in order to preserve the type. It is a mistake to
go too far away in blood. To take an extreme
case, a fantastic alliance between an English
Foxhound and a Welsh Foxhound who have no
ancestors in common, is calculated to produce a
family of freaks of no recogm'zed type, or perhaps
the whole litter will favour the English or the
Welsh, according as the one or the other is dominant
or recessive.
Another good thing to remember in breeding.
HUNTING THE FOX 97
which would seem obvious, though occasionally
forgotten, is that, in the long run, like begets like.
If straight Hounds are wanted, it is asking for
trouble to breed from crooked ones. If it is desired
to breed Hounds with good necks and shoulders, the
most likely chance of success is to select a sire
with goad neck and shoulders, and mate him with
a bitch of similar structure in this regard.
A well-bred pack of Foxhoimds will not contain
the names of many different foreign sires in its list.
The best packs in England are bred from compara-
tively few strains. By adhering to these one is
sure sooner or later to produce replicas of the best
types in certain families ; they are bound to crop
up from time to time ; nothing, as far as we under-
stand the laws of heredity, can possibly prevent
their appearance. If, on the other hand, the
M.F.H. goes to all and sundry Kennels in search of
a type that pleases the eye, and uses five or six
sires of good looks but doubtful ancestry, he may
perhaps breed a good-looking one, but he is not
Ukely to breed a stallion hound or a brood bitch
that will endow posterity.' Therefore, in looking
over a pack of Hounds with a view to finding a
sire, one should beware of a Hound list that contains
sires from a variety of obscure Kennels. When
A suitable sire has been selected from a Kennel of
good repute, it is wise to send to him one or two
of the best-looking bitches from home, and not
H
98 HUNTING THE FOX
the moderate ones, so as to give him every chance ;
if these bitches are themselves got by a foreign
sire, so much the better, because any dog puppies
from them, provided they grow into stallion hounds,
will be far enough away in blood to be mated with
most of the bitches at home. One or two luckv
hits made on these lines every second or third
year wiU keep a pack together, and confirm the
type far better than any nmnber of experiments
in first-class looks with third-class pedigrees.
CHAPTER X
HO&SE-BBEEDINO AND THE TRAINING OF THE
TOUNO HOB8E
The breeding of a sudfficient number of Hounds
need not present any great difficulty, but the breed-
ing of a plentiful supply of hunters will not be so
easy. Ireland has been the great reservoir for
hunters for many years, but it would appear that
in the attempt made in that island during the
War to breed light-draught horses, the breeding of
hunters has suffered. It is, however, reasonable
to expect that the demand will create the supply,
especially when one or two plentiful hay harvests
have made the keep of hunters more possible. In
the meantime, there is no doubt that more hunters
can be bred in Great Britain. They are likely to
be valuable for some years to come, and it is well
worth while, for profit as well as for pleasure, to
use every effort to encourage and organize the
breeding of hunters in this island.
The most encouraging sign of recent years is
the wonderful improvement in the type of thorough-
100 HUNTING THE FOX
bred hunter sires exhibited at the King's Premium
Show. Ten or fifteen years ago the King's Cup
could be won by a horse who would to-day hardly
get a premium, and certainly not a super-premium.
In those days five hundred pounds was considered
a good price to pay for a King's Premium winner,
and from two to three hundred pounds was some-
where near the normal price ; but during the last
decade, especially since the super-premium was
offered, some exhibitors began to pay as much as or
more than a thousand pounds for a horse, with the
result that the Show Yard at Islington in March
1916 presented a finer sight than any country in
the world could produce. Well over a hundred
British thoroughbred stallions under one roof, is
an exhibition that has never been equalled any-
where. These magnificent creatures, under the
admirable organization of the Board of Agriculture,
are available to breeders in all parts of Great
Britain for a fee that is not worth talldng about.
To be able to command for a trifle of one or two
guineas the services of a thoroughbred horse who
has stood the test of training and won races, does
away with all vestige of excuse on the part of the
hunting community for not doing its very best
to provide the mares and make the attempt to
supply the market upon which so much depends.
One of the best ways to encourage the breeding
of hunters is by a liberal prize-list at shows for
• •,
■: :
HUNTING THE POX W1-.
, • . ••• . • ••• • • < • •
brood mares and all stock up to seven years old.
Every Hunt in the kingdom might have its own
show, or join with neighbouring Hunts for the
purpose of holding a joint show. A Hunt Horse
Show need not conflict with county shows already
established. On the contrary, it will tend to help
the county shows by stimulating and widening
the local interest in horse-breeding. But its main
value lies in the fact that it brings the subscribers
to any given pack of Foxhounds into personal
and responsible touch with the breeding of the
animals which are destined to carry them across
country. The subscribers to the show will mostly
be the same ladies and gentlemen who subscribe
to the Hounds. They attend the show, and there
have the opportunity of inspecting all the young
horses and made hunters belonging to the farmers
in the district. The show might almost become
a kind of fair. In addition to farmers' classes there
should also be classes for the subscribers them-
selves, in which the farmers are invited to exhibit.
The breeding of himters should no longer be left
to the farmers alone. It is obviously the wisest
poUcy, if he wants to follow the Hounds on horse-
back instead of on foot, for every hunting man to
keep a brood mare of his own. It may be urged,
in answer to all this, that a Hunt Horse Show
presents financial difficulties that cannot be over-
come. The answers to this objection are, that
402... . HUNTING THE FOX
■ . ' . -
the breeding of hunters will soon be in a very
precarious state unless it is organized and stimu-
lated in every possible way, and that unless hunting
people are prepared to reckon the support of
breeding as part of the necessary expenses of Fox-
hunting, we are within measurable distance of
having to hunt on foot. But the financing of a
single-day show is not in truth a very formidable
operation. The main expense of a two-day show
is the vast amount of woodwork used for stables,
shelters, and offices. This very heavy item does not
occur in the expenses of a one-day show, which can
be run on an income which is small compared with
its good results.
The next question that arises is how to breed
the hunter. The ideal hunter is without doubt
the thoroughbred horse up to fourteen or fifteen
stone. There are not very many of these animals
in existence, but, however difficult to breed, theirs
is the type at which we should aim. We already
have the thoroughbred sires. There is some
difference of opinion as to the selection of mares.
One school of thought inclines to the opinion that
thoroughbred mares, and most hunter mares,
have not the requisite calibre to breed a foal big
enough to carry weight in the hunting-field through
deep ground and over fences, and that the best
chance is to mate a thoroughbred sire with a cart
or van mare. It is true that every now and then
HUNTING THE FOX 108
a fine weight-carrying hunter has been bred from
the first cross of these opposite extremes, but
whether a mare bred in this way will, in her turn,
become a good himter brood mare is another
matter. Some say that by scientifically crossing
and recrossing her stock alternately with the
thoroughbred and the cart horse, always coming
back to the thoroughbred, the right type of weight-
carrying hunter should eventually be established.
This will take some generations to prove, but the
process might be a success in time if strictly carried
out on scientific lines by a careful breeder ; and
a distinct breed of horse for hunting purposes
might be evolved, in the same way that the Cleve-
land Bay and the Hackney have established their
identity. At present, however, we have not
sufficient data or experience from which to form an
opinion. From our experience of the first cross
between the thoroughbred and the cart horse, it
would seem that the types are too far apart for the
experiment to be recommended; such successes
as there have been are probably accidental. Six
sound, strong van mares with action were carefully
chosen, a few years ago, and mated every season
with a super-premium thoroughbred sire. In
ten years not one of these has bred a hunter ; one
mare has bred six or seven useful animals, of no
very definite character, that can do farm work
on light land, or trot to market fairly smartly in a
104 HUNTING THE POX
trap. This slight experience is here given for what
it is worth* Van mares were chosen as being,
perhaps, a shade nearer to the thoroughbred than
a cart mare. But even so, this experiment in blend-
ing is not very encouraging.
What, then, is the alternative ? The only
alternative is to go on as we are doing now, and
make the very best of the experience we now
have. And this experience is in our favour. All
the best hunters we have ridden are either purely
thoroughbred or got by a thoroughbred sire from
a hunter mare with quality inherited from her own
father, whose name is in the Stud Book. One of
the main values, and certainly the main charm
of the animal we all want to ride, is courage.
There is nothing more wonderful than the courage
of a well-bred horse. Now a plebeian ancestry
may conduce to the size of its posterity, but it is
not calculated to endow it with courage. Let us
therefore make the best possible use of the material
we have ready to our hand in the shape of hunter
mares, not far removed from the thoroughbred.
It is almost a sacred obligation for any one who
owns a mare of this kind either to breed from her
or else to take every means in his power to see that
she is bred from — supposing that he has to part
with her.
Let us now imagine that we have bred the
animal we want, and that he is four years old.
HUNTING THE FOX 106
Whether for our own comfort or for the purpose of
selling him to our friends, he should be thoroughly
well broken in every respect before he goes out for
his first morning's Cub-hunting. There is nothing
more important, firom every point of view, than
teaching a horse good manners when he is young.
He should, at an early age, be trained so that he
will stand stock-still while he is being mounted
and until the rider gives him the signal to move.
Very few horses are really taught to do this pro-
perly. He should open gates, and be accustomed
to wait, with the reins on his neck, if his rider
wants to use both hands to lift a gate that cannot
be opened with the whip. He should allow a whip
to be cracked by his rider on either side or over
his head without flinching. If he is highly strung,
nervous, and ticklish, too much pains cannot be
taken to get him used to the touch of hands and
straps all over his body. In order to do this, it is
not a bad plan to teach him when he is three years
old to draw a very light harrow or bush or log
of wood, driving him from behind with long reins.
It will not even diminish his value if he is regularly
broken to harness. He should, of course, be
absolutely quiet with all road nuisances, and if he
can be brought up in the constant companionship
of dogs, so much the better. Stress is laid on all
this because the possession of good manners by
the animal we ride makes all the difference to the
106 HUNTING THE FOX
comfort and pleasure of a day's hunting. In
addition, it is of course postulated that his mouth
is properly made, and that his make and shape
are such that he can move well in all his paces and
be able to gallop fast. If so, he is at four years old
not very far from being a made hunter. *' You
can teach him to jump/' said a wise and witty
judge of horses, ^* but you cannot teach him to
gallop " ; and, indeed, the teaching of a young
horse to jump is the easiest and most delightful
part of his tuition. Nearly all horses come to it
in time ; some do it more comfortably than others ;
some seem to be natural jumpers the very first
time they are asked to get over a country ; but
there are surprisingly few horses who are really
bad jumpers. The proof of this is that, out of a
large Field, many indifferent riders are mounted
on indifferent horses and still manage to get over
big fences with comparatively few mistakes, even
if they are not in the first fiight. But, in spite of
this, our young horse should be given every chance
of acquiring the accomplishment with confidence
and ease. For this purpose it is well that he
should be driven with long reins over fences when
he is young, before he is ridden over them. Captain
Hayes' long -rein system cannot be beaten for
breaking and mouth-making young horses, as we}l
as for teaching them to jump. The tackle required
is a thick unjointed snaffle, a standing martingale
HUNTING THE FOX 107
with clips to fix on to the rings of the snafiSe, a
strong surcingle with a ring set on low down on
either side, and a pair of reins about eight yards
long made of webbing with loops at the ends.
The offside rein should pass from the snaffle ring
through the ring on the surcingle, and be brought
round just above the hocks to the right hand of
the driver, whose proper place is on the nearside of
the horse, a few feet to the rear. The nearside
rein should pass straight from the ring of the
snaffle to the left hand of the driver, who should
never let go of the loop, even if he has to shorten
the rein. He is now at the apex of a triangle, of
which the horse forms the base and the two reins
the sides. He can drive his horse either straight
ahead or in a circle, taking care to keep the right
hand low down so as to prevent the offside rein
from getting over the horse's back. This rein will
be kept in its place by the ring on the surcingle. If
by any chance the offside rein does get over the
horse's back, or if he gets into a tangle of any
kind, all he has to do is to loose this rein at once,
and cling for dear life to the nearside rein, so that
he will pull the horse's head towards him, and
save the situation. If the driver can keep his
own head as well as the horse's head, this practice
ought never to fail. As soon as the young horse is
accustomed to being handled in this manner, he
should be invited to jump small places and blind
108 HUNTING THE FOX
ditches to make him deyer with his feet. As
soon as he is over the fence the driver should
loose the offside rein from his hand, and the horse
will halt or come romid in obedience to the pressure
from the nearside rein. Horses learn this habit
very quickly, and soon begin to stop of their own
accord when they are over the other side. It is
well to have two assistants on foot standing on
the taking-off side of the obstacle on each side of
the selected place, in order to supply a little moral
suasion by the voice. The whip should not be
used except as a last resort ; the mere presence of
the men is generally enough ; most young horses
have sense enough to give in to the weight of
numbers. The first few fences that our young
horse is asked to jump should no doubt be small
and perhaps thin, simply for the purpose of giving
him confidence. But it is probably a mistake to
practise too long over places that can be tampered
with. The thing becomes too easy, and the pupil
may very well become slovenly and careless. He
should be made to learn that jumping — ^like all
other accomplishments — ^requires a certain effort,
and that it is safer to negotiate obstacles with
something to spare. For this reason the natural
country is a better field for practice than an
artificial school, however cunningly it be contrived.
An artificial school is of some value in teaching a
young horse to balance and stand on his hocks.
HUNTING THE FOX 109
But in a very few days he acquires the trick of
skimming over the obstacles with hardly an inch
to spare, and does not learn to take care of himself
as he would in the blind ditches and thorns of the
natural country. Timber jumping may perhaps
be learnt in a school, and indeed it is wise, even
when an aged horse has been imported into the
Midlands, to longe him once or twice over a bar
before taking him out hunting. But after all is
said and done, there is nothing like a run with
Hounds to make a young horse. One good gallop
will do it with a generous animal, and we will try
to say something about this in the next chapter.
CHAPTER XI
BIDING TO HOUNDS9 AND SOME ADVICE TO
THE FIELD
In the presence of so many fine horsemen and
horsewomen as we see to-day, the subject of this
chapter must be approached with some diffidence.
At most Meets of Foxhounds in the Midlands there
are generally at least twenty-five ladies and gentle-
men, each of whom not only means to be at the top
of the Hunt, but also has the courage, the skill, the
experience, and the horse with which to get there.
The horses, within limits, are perhaps the least of
these factors. If these same twenty-five people
were to change horses with the second flight, they
would still be first when Hounds run. So that
any advice contained in this chapter is offered with
profound respect.
The right beginning to a day's hunting is to
come to the place where the Hounds meet, and
to come there in good time. This sounds like a
platitude; but both these rules are occasionally
broken with disastrous results. It is a very grave
110
HUNTING THE FOX 111
offence against the laws of Fox-hunting to be
late for the Meet, or to speculate on the covert
that the Master is likely to draw and to wait
there for him to come. After Christmas, when
Foxes are wilder than earlier in the season, the
sound of a voice, the tread of a horse, or the
slamming of a gate may very likely frighten the
good Fox away before the Hounds come, and
so the day's sport is spoilt. C!overts should also
be avoided on the way to the Meet for the same
reason. If by an unavoidable accident you cannot
arrive punctually at the Meet, the least likely way
of spoiling other people's pleasure is never to wait
near a covert, but to ride the roads until you can
join the Hunt. The Master can help very materi-
ally in the matter of his Field being punctual at the
Meet if he always moves off precisely at the same
moment every day. It is a good rule to advertise
the Meet at 10.45 until the 1st of March, and
move off without fail on the very stroke of eleven.
This hour is easier to fix with precision than 11.15.
A Master whose own punctuality is not above
suspicion, and who, after he has arrived, dawdles
about on foot and moves off at ^' any old time,"
does not deserve to have a punctual Field.
The really keen Fox-hunter, who is determined
to get a start, will not be very far behind the
Hounds on the way to covert. If a Fox jiunps
out of a hedge or crosses the road on the way to
112 HUNTING THE POX
draw— and many more wonderful things than
this may happen — ^those who are nearest the Hounds
get the benefit that always accrues to the man
on the spot. It is always worth while to begin
the day with the expectation that there will be a
tearing scent, and that the run of the season is
about to take place. It is time enough to talk
to £riends and leave things to chance after the
Hounds have told you that it is a bad scenting
day. On arriving at the covert, study the wind
and mark in the mind the down-wind comer where
the Fox is likely to break ; map out, too, in advance,
your dispositions for getting a good start if the
expectation is realized. This is not difficult if
the covert is small. If it is a woodland, the best
thing to do is to try not to let the Huntsman
get out of your hearing while he is drawing ; but
on no account follow him about or ride in his track
now, or indeed at any other time. There is
nothing more irritating to a Huntsman than to be
conscious that some one is dogging his footsteps.
Not only that, the Huntsman should be quite alone
whai he is drawing, so as to be able to use his
ears to the fullest advantage. Another horse
clattering, splashing, and champing the bit close
behind him, may very easily prevent his hearing
the first Hound open when the Fox is unkennelled.
The Huntsman indeed should always be given
plenty of elbow-room at every phase of the chase.
HUNTING THE FOX 118
Some people seem quite miable to ride anywhere
else in the whole county except in the Huntsman's
pocket. Perhaps it saves them the trouble of
thinking for themselves how to take their own
line ; perhaps they think that if they maintain a
horse's length distance in rear of him all day they
are sure to see what there is to be seen ; but,
however this shocking habit has been contracted,
it should be sternly repressed.
Let us now imagine that the Fox and the
Hounds are well away, and that it looks as if we
are in for a good thing. Unless you are one of the
very first through the first gate, it is permissible,
even if a trifle theatrical, to secure a good start
by jumping the fence alongside the gate, if it is
negotiable. If this has to be done, however, do it
at least twenty-five yards away from the gate,
and get your horse well by the head, letting him
feel the rein and heel on the side farthest away
from the gate, so as to distract his attrition
from the crowd. These precautions are sometimes
forgotten, with the ignominious result that the
horse refuses, and butts into the flank of the throng
that is wrestling with the gateway. But whether
the coimter-attraction of the gate is there or not,
all, or nearly all horses should be ridden with
extra resolution over the first fence or two. If
Hounds are really going to run, the ideal place to
aim at is somewhere between fifty and one hundred
114 HUNTING THE FOX
yards to the right or left rear of the pack, keeping
of cotirse on the down-wind side. This is by right
the place that should be occupied by and ceded to
the Huntsman if he is there to claim it. If he is
there no one ought to try to get nearer the Hounds
by riding a line inside of that taken by the Hunts-
man. It is an offence to get between the Hunts-
man and his Hounds as long as he is riding well
up to them. Some Huntsmen, indeed, seem
themselves to be too fond of riding in the wake
of their Hounds. By doing this they are only
making their own job the more difficult. The
leading Hounds can be more easily watched by the
Huntsman if he rides slightly to one flank of them ;
but if he rides directly in their line, he will not only
tend to drive them beyond the point where the
Fox turns, but will also have a string of followers
who will aggravate this danger. The ideal state
of things is achieved when no one is riding in the
wake of the pack, which should be left quite clear
of horses for a considerable distance. Therefore,
for a follower of the Hoimds, the safest place in
every sense of the word is well away on the flank.
Here there is always plenty of room where he
can indulge in that deUghtful sense of adventure
arising from picking his own places at the fences.
Some people ride fairly well up to Hounds all their
lives, but seem to like a lead whenever they can
get it. Most good riders to Hounds will tell you
HUNTING THE FOX 116
that, apart from the satisfaction of choosing your
own line, your horse as a rule wiU go better with no
one in front of him ; there is nothing to distract
his attention ; there is no risk of having to pull
him out of his stride if jrour leader has a fall ; he
is ** on his own " ; he has to look where he is
going, and has no incentive to copy the mistakes
of the horse in front of him. But in any case it is
not wise to trust too much to the automatism of
any horse. As a general rule, all horses should be
definitely ** made up " at each fence. Some riders
rather appear to increase the pace as they get near
the fence, and to be concerned with the fore part
of the horse rather than with his hind part. The
opposite practice is the safer; the rider should
contract the stride of his horse by taking hold of
his head about twenty yards from the fence, bring
his hocks underneath him by pressure from leg
and heel, and present him at the fence in collected
form, marking with the eye the spot where he
intends the horse to take off. This procedure also
gives the horse the chance of filling iiis lungs with
wind before he makes the effort to jump. Far
more falls have been taken by riding too fast at
the fences than by riding too slow. There are
very few obstacles that a horse cannot clear from
a collected canter. A bold horse should certainly
be collect^ in the manner described. With a
slug, or a possible refuser, it is obviously necessary
116 HUNTING THE POX
to tighten up the collectmg process, even to the
extent of ktting him feel the spurs, and feel them
in good time, so as to make up his mind for him
in advance. It is not of much avail to use the whip
on a sticky jumper before the fence has been
jumped, but, if he jumps it in a slovenly manner,
it is wonderful what a few sharp cuts will do if
properly applied the very moment he lands. He
will dart over the next fence in a surprisingly agile
manner. The exact explanation of this altered
demeanour is not quite clear. But the above
recipe is a certainty, and was recommended to the
writer of this book many years ago by one of the
finest horsem^i in the British Isles, who had for
many years ridden all sorts of horses over all sorts
of fences at the very head of the Hunt.
Having got a good start and a good place, it is
easy to form an opinion as to whether it is a good
scenting day or not. If there is a good scent, you
may, in the words of an amateur Huntsman who
was generally in the same field with his Hounds,
ride your horse up to 75 per cent of his value.
On the very best days Hounds will seldom run
for more than twenty minutes without a check,
or at least a breathing space.
On bad scenting days the wise man will give the
Huntsman and the M.F.H. a wide berth, and thus
save himself from getting disliked, and his horse
from getting tired. On these days the Hounds
HUNTING THE POX 117
check very oft^i, and every time they check they
get farther behind their Fox, and therefore tend
to hunt more slowly* Yet there are always some
sanguine spirits who would appear to think that,
by some magical process, the scent will improve
after each delay, and, as soon as the Hounds own
the line again, begin to compete with redoubled
vigour, regardless of the sad truth that, unless
the Fox lies down or has a fit, he is every moment
increasing the distance between himself and his
enemies. The people who form this little band
are the same every day. They are, no doubt
unconsciously, a great nuisance to the Huntsman
and M.F.H., but are animated by nothing but zeal.
If only they could be persuaded to take a line
either to the right or left of the Hounds, they would
see far more sport* If, indeed, they get a little
too forward on the flank, they do not do nearly so
much harm as if they were riding on the very tail
of the Hounds, provided they will pull up when
the Hounds are in difficulties, and turn their horses'
heads the same way as the Hounds' heads are
pointing when they fling themselves towards the
horses to recover the scent. Hounds take their
sense of direction from horses to a greater degree
than many people imagine ; they jdeld to pressure
from horses on their stems and get driven past
the magic spot where the Fox turned, but, when
they fling to the right or left, will nearly always
118 HUNTING THE FOX
drive through a small group of standing horses to
make thdr own east, partieularly if the riders
conform to them by turning their horses' heads.
These remarks are only intended to apply to
days when the scent is poor. When there is a good
scent nothing very mueh matters, and every one
is at liberty to keep near the Hounds by the quickest
route. On days when the scent is so poor that
Hounds cannot run for three fields without check-
ing, the wise riders will keep to the gates as much
as possible, save their horses, and incidentally
avoid making unnecessary gaps in the fences.
If a member of the Field views a Fox, he should
turn his horse's head in the direction the Fox has
taken, stand up in his stirrups, and point with his
hat in hand. It may be remarked in passing, that
he cannot do this if he has a hat-string. If he is
at a place where the Huntsman cannot see him,
he should hoUpa. Never mind if it is a fresh Fox ;
the Huntsman need not come to the holloa if he
is engaged in doing something else. If nothing
happens, it is well to ride back to the Huntsman
and give him the fullest information. This should
still be done even if the Huntsman answers the
holloa. Bide back to him, meet him, and place
him in possession of everything you know, so
that he may know how to act when he arrives on
the spot. If you see any one on foot who has seen
a Fox, the cardinal questions to ask him sj:^ where
HUNTING THE FOX 119
he last saw the Fox, which way his head was, and,
above all, how long ago. The Huntsman is sure
to ask you this last question directl]^ you get into
touch with hiiUy and it creates an unfortunate
lapse in your information to be obliged to confess
that you did not ask* It is true that some people's
estimation of time is a little vague, but as much
can be gathered from the manner of the informant
as from the exact number of minutes he reckons.
As was stated at the beginning of this chapter,
these few hints to ladies and gentlemen who hunt
are offered with real respect. They are the result
of some observation as to the manner in which
the duties of the M.F.H. and his Staff can be made
as easy as possible by the Field. It is not proposed
to enter at any length into the delicate relation-
ship between the M.F.H. and his followers. In
truth he can make it whatever he likes as far as
his own limitations will allow. Some Masters may
be efficient without being popular. Some may
be popular without being efficient. Some may be
both popular and efficient. But having devoted
a few paragraphs to the conduct of the Field,
experience of human nature will tell us that as a
general rule it is better for the M.F.H. to say
" Thank you " than to say " Get out of the way."
Sometimes the tongue obeys the brain too readily,
and the sharp word is on the wing. But all
sportsmen are very generous, and only too ready
120 HUNTING THE FOX
to put it aU down to zeal, provided that an honest
attempt is being made to show sport. And when
all is said and done, the two chief points for the
M.F.H. to remember are, that every one comes
out for enjoyment, and that the best answer to
criticism is to show a good run and kill a dead-
beaten Fox in the open. The general public are
not bad rough-and-ready critics of any given
performance, whether it takes place in the theatre
or the hunting-field. In either case their criticism,
good or bad, has to be accepted, or else the Box
Office returns are apt to suffer.
CHAPTER Xn
SOME SPOBTINO WRITEBS
A REVIEW of the literature of the Chase has been
so well written in the first chapter of the Hunting
volume of the Badminton Library, that it could
hardly be improved. The author closes his retro-
spect with an appreciation of Beckford's Thoughts
on Hunting, and supposes his reader to be well
acquainted with such authors as Delm6 Radcliffe,
"Nimrod," "Scrutator,** Surtees, and Whyte-
MelviUe. There are others besides these, however,
who deserve some mention, which will presently
be attempted, although this chapter does not pre-
tend by any means to be an exhaustive description
of a complete Fox-hunter's library.
Books about Fox-hunting roughly fall into
four classes : Text-books, Hunt Histories, Fiction,
Poetry. Of the writers of Text-books, taken in
the sense of a text-book being a manual of in-
struction, Beckford is at the top of the class.
Country gentleman. Fox-hunter, scholar, linguist,
and wit, he has illuminated his ThoughU upon
121
122 HUNTING THE FOX
Hunting with an amusing and cultivated style
that is quite his own. The authors of the Bad-
minton volume remind us of an appreciation of
Beckford's work by a contemporary writer : " Never
had fox or hare the honour of being chased to death
by so accomplished a huntsman; never was a
huntsman's dinner graced by such urbanity and
wit. He would bag a fox in Greek, find a hare in
Latin, inspect his kennels in Italian, and direct
the economy of his stables in excellent French."
Every word of Beckf ord can be studied to-day with
advantage by any one who wishes to become
M.F.H. If one dared to make any reservation
with regard to this distinguished author, one
might say that too much attention is devoted to
the correcticm of Hounds by the whip ; and that
to turn down before the young Hounds a badger,
having first taken care to break the teeth of the
poor brute, seems a needless piece of cruelty. It
is also curious to find such a fine sportsman as
Beckford countenancing the turning down of bag
Foxes. It is true that he says he dislikes bag
Foxes, and proceeds to state his objections to
them in his own inimitable manner. But the
minute description on the very same page, of how
to organize a hunt after a bag Fox, can hardly
have been written by any one who had not done
it himself.
The best thing in Thoughts upon Hunting is
HUNTING THE FOX 128
BecJdbrd's description of a Fox chase in Letter
XHL From the point of view of a lover of Hounds,
it is probably the best thing of its kind that has
ever been written. Here you have the feelings of
the enthusiast and the spirit of the sportsman,
set down by the pen of the expert in language
that is almost blank verse, and can be described
without impertinence as being superior to the
lines of Somerville, whom he so amply cites.
Beckford need not have called SomerviUe to his
aid. He knows how to "get it over" better
than the poet. He conveys the romance while
preserving the technique of the chase in a style
that will always bring a thrill to the heart of the
true Fox-hunter.
Less witty and cultivated than Thoughts upon
Hunting, but almost equally instructive, are such
text-books as The Noble Science, by Mr. Delm6
Radcliffe ; NoiUia Venatica, by Mr. Thomas Vyner ;
The Diary of a Huntsman, by Mr. Thomas Smith ;
and Observations on Fox-huniing, by Colonel Cook.
Of these Colonel Cook's work is probably the
least familiar to this generation, though a modem
M.F.H. would do well to follow almost every word
of advice it contains. It is interesting to recall
that Colonel Cook married Miss Elizabeth Surtees,
a kinswoman of Robert Smith Surtees, author of
Handley Cross and Mr. Spongers Sporting Tour,
because, in the latter work, there are two oft-
124 HUNTING THE FOX
quoted sayings that are extracted by Surtees from
CSolonel Crook's book. One is that which he puts
into the mouth of Dick Bragg : ** A weedy hound
is only fit to hunt a cat in a kutchen/' The other
is to be found in Mr. Pufflngton's letter to Lord
Scamperdale about the celebrated Beaufort Justice :
'* The late Mr. Warde, who of course was very
justly partial to his own sort, had never any objec-
tion to breeding from the Beaufort Justice."
The Diary of a HtmUman, by Mr. Thomas
Smith, published in 1888, contains the diagram
of the famous ** all-round-my-hat '' cast already
described in this book ; admirable drawings of a
good-looking and a faulty Hound, and of a fresh
Fox and a beaten Fox ; as well as some sterling
advice to Fox-hunters. This is perhaps the best
text-book of the lot after Beckford's work, and
should be carefully studied by all Huntsmen and
whippers-in. GooddU^s Practice^ by Lord Henry
Bentinck, can hardly be dignified by the name of
a text-book, as it is really only a fragment. But
what a fragment I It is of the kind that makes
one long for more of the same sort. Every Master,
Huntsman, and whipper-in ought to know it by
heart. It is but three thousand words or there-
abouts, but from its condensed, terse, and ** var-
minty " phrases there is more to be learnt about
hunting the Fox than from many volumes ten
times its size.
HUNTING THE FOX 125
Of course the authorities abeady mentioned are
not in absolute agreement upon all points, but there
is one point upon which all the Master minds agree.
It is so well stated by Lord Henry Bentinck that
his words may here be quoted. He says it is ruin-
ous to a pack of Hounds to meddle with them
before they have done trying for themselves. " If
they are meddled with in their natural casts they
will learn to stand still at every difficulty and wait
for their Huntsman • • • f or once the Huntsman
can help them, nineteen times the Hounds must
help themselves." It is remarkable that, in the
accounts we now get every morning in the news-
papers of the doings of so many packs, we seldom
read of tired Foxes being killed at the end of good
runs. A possible explanation of this may be that
nowadays Hounds are taken off their noses far
too often. Nothing tells in favour of the Fox so
much as getting the Hounds' heads up. As soon
as ever you see the Hounds following the Huntsman
about when they are in difficulties, the Fox is as
good as lost. Much stress has been laid on this
in an earlier chapter, but it cannot be too often
repeated.
Of Hunt Histories there are many. Among
the most interesting are The Annals of the War-
mckahire Hwnty by Sir Charles Mordaunt and the
Rev. Walter Vemey ; The History of the Brocklesby
Hounds, by Mr. George Collins; The History of
126 HUNTING THE FOX
^ Bebmr HwU, by Mr. T. F. Dale ; and The Fox-
hounds of Great BrUain and Ireland, by Sir Humphry
de Trafford and his collaborators.
Among the writers of the Fiction of Fox-hnnting,
Surtees must surely be given the palm. He not
only thoroughly understood the sport itself, but
has also painted with his pen a gallery of portraits
which, among a large class of readers, will outlive
many of the characters of the novelists of the
nineteenth century. It is no impertinence to say
that these pen-portraits would have survived even
had there been no Leech to make their immortality
doubly sure. But what a collaboration I The
alliance between Gilbert and Sullivan is the only
alliance in the world of art to which it can be
compared. Leech knew his subjects as intimately
as did Surtees. Thackeray's paper on Leech's
pictures of Life and Character tells us something o(
the secret of his fame. **' The truth, the strength,
the free vigour, the kind humour, the John Bull
pluck and spirit of that hand are approached by
no competitor. With what dexterity he draws a
horse, a woman, a child I • • • Any one who looks
over Mr. Leech's portfolio must see that the social
pictures which he gives us are authentic • . « the
inner life of all these people (the English) is repre-
sented. Leech draws them as naturally as Teniers
depicts Dutch boors, or Morland pigs and stables.
• . • Mr. Leech has as fine an eye for tailoring and
HUNTING THE FOX 127
millinery as for horseflesh • • • the backgrounds of
landscapes in Leech's draivings are as excellently
true to nature as the actors themselves ; our respect
for the genius and humour which invented both
increases as we look and look again at the designs."
Handley Cross is regarded by most people as the
masterpiece of Surtees. For the pure Fox-hunter
this appreciation is certainly correct. In the pages
of this book there is Fox-hunting of all sorts,
from the romantic narratives of Michael Hardy's
fine hunting run, and of the last effort of the old
customer in the middle of a large grass field outside
Pinch-me-near-Forest, down to the priceless bur-
lesque of Fox-hunting on the Pomponius Ego day.
Mr. Jorrocks' sporting lectures are rich in anecdote
and contemporary reference. They are amusing
enough, if a trifle forced, and have the merit of
giving an advertisement to Geoffrey Gambado's
"Academy for Grown Horsemen." No sporting
library is complete without a copy of this work.
But the student of the early Victorian epoch,
whether or no he or she be a Fox-hunter, will find
a delicious comedy of contemporary manners in
Mr. Spongers Sporting Tour^ Ask Mamma^ Plain
or RingletSj and Mr. RomforcTs Hounds. In these
books we find that Surtees could not only portray
Huntsmen and grooms, but could with equal skill
present noblemen, country gentlemen, bankers,
parvenus, actresses, card-sharpers, farmers, and
128 HUNTING THE FOX
many other characters. The account of Mr.
Sponge's visit to Jawleyford Court cannot be
beaten. It is a delightful piece of burlesque, in
half-a-dozen chapters, of this pretentious Jawley-
ford with his spurious hospitality, his cheap cellar,
his third-rate art gallery, his weakness for a lord,
his ostentatious reception of his tenantry, his
family pride, his love of display, — in fact all the
attributes that make a reaUy vulgar snob of a man
who ought to have been a gentleman. All this,
together with the interior economy of Jawleyford
Court, is depicted by the hand of a master whose
power of penetrating character and skill in delineat-
ing it is surely of the very first order. The great
merit of his picture of Jawleyford is that, with the
exception of the extravagance in making him ride
to the Meet of the Hounds in the uniform of the
Bumperkin Yeomanry, it is not really overdone.
Less subtle, but none the less historical, are the
portraits of Lord Scamperdale, Jack Spraggon,
Mr. Pufflngton, and Mr. Sponge himself. Ask
Mamma is not so widely read as Mr. Spongers
Sporting Tour, but is well worth reading, if only
for the Pringle correspondence and the portrait of
^^that gallant old philanthropist, the Earl of
Ladythome, of Tantivy Castle, Featherbedford-
shire, and Belvedere House, London." The letters
from Mrs. Pringle, who, as Miss Willing the lady's
maid had been the friend, and as the widow Pringle
HUNTING THE FOX 129
of Curtain Crescent Pimlico afterwards became
the unfCy of Lord Ladythome, to her son Billy
Pringle, instructing him how to behave while on a
visit to Tantivy Castle, and the naive replies of
Billy to his mother, are masterpieces in a manner
all their own« Lord Ladythome is admirably
drawn. He had hunted Featherbedfordshiie in
a style of great magnificence for nearly forty
years, so he cannot have been far short of sixty,
but in spite of his years ** no pretty woman in
town or country ever wanted a friend if he was
aware of it," and he said that ^^ the sofa and not
the saddle was the proper place for the ladies."
Plain or Ringlets is not so clever as Ask Mamma^
but it contains a first-class comedy scene, depicting
an interview between Mr. Jasper Goldspink, the
local banker, and the Duke of Tergiversation, the
needy political hack peer who was always ready
to change his party in order to get office.
Mr. Romford^ s Hounds is perhaps better known
than either Ask Mamma or Plain or Ringlets, and
is certainly too well known to call for much com-
ment here. One cannot help forming a sneaking
affection for Facey the Lnpostor, because he
knew so well how to hunt a Fox ; and the author
contrives to invest Mrs* Somerville, the soi-disante
sister of Facey, once Lucy Glitters the circus rider
and now grass widow of our old friend Soapey
Sponge, with sufficient charm to make us think
K
180 HUNTING THE FOX
Faoey was a very lucky fellow to have her for his
sole oompanion during a hunting season at Beldon
HalL The most amusing thing in the book is the
account of the ** camouflage " employed by Lucy
and her stage friend Betsy Shannon, to conceal
from Facey, up to the very last minute, that the
small party which he fondly thought was to be re-
galed by a rabbit-pie and a cheese before listening to
his rendering of " Old Bob Ridley " on the flute, was
actually to be a first-class county ball, with a band
and a champagne supper provided by the renowned
Mr. Fizzer of London, Confectioner to the Queen.
Surtees' works have now survived for some
sixty or seventy years, and, among a large class
of reader, bid fair to outlive many of the Victorian
novelists. Surtees might be described as the
Thackeray of Fox-hunting fiction. His characters
live. It would be very interesting to know whether
a greater number of all ranks in the Army in 1918
knew Bawdon Crawley than knew Mr. Sponge,
or whether a greater number knew Becky Sharp
than knew Lucy Glitters. Thackeray would prob-
ably win the day, but possibly not by a very large
majority.
But it would require less courage to hazard the
suggestion that, as a sporting writer, Surtees has
outlived Whyte-Melville. At the same time.
Market Harbaraugh can be read again to-day with
pleasure. The portraits in this book are indeed
HUNTING THE FOX 181
the only portraits in Wh}rte-Melville's gallery that
most people will remember by name without much
effort. Mr. Sawyer and his flat-catching horse
Marathon, the Honble. Crasher, and Parson Dove
have been too well drawn to be easily forgotten,
while the spirit of horse-coping that pervades the
whole book seems to reappear in most modem
transactions.
When we speak of the Poetry of Fox-hunting
we probably mean nothing more than Verse. If
Coleridge was correct in saying that ^* Poetry is
the blossom and fragrance of all human knowledge,
human thoughts, human passions, emotions, lan-
guage,** then it is doubtful if true poetry can be
a vehicle for the spirit of the hunting-field. Yet,
on the other hand, as Shakespeare has not omitted
to write about the Chase and about Hounds,
matched in mouth like bells
Each under each. A cry more tuneable
Was never holloaed to, nor cheered with horn,
perhaps it may be claimed that hunting has indeed
received the authority of the poets. Those who
wish to examine this proposition cannot do better
than read a delightful work called The Diary of
Master William Silence; a Study of Shakespeare
and of Elizabethan Sporty by the Right Honble.
D. H. Madden, Vice-Chancellor of the University of
Dublin. The author reminds us of Dr. Johnson's
k2
182 HUNTING THE FOX
saying that '^ He that will understand Shakespeare
must not be content to study him in the closet, he
must look for his meaning sometimes among the
sports of the field/'
The oflBcial poet of the Chase in the eighteenth
century was William Somerville, constantly quoted
by many writers until about a hundred years after
his death, which took place in 1742. Doctor
Johnson is not so kind to Somerville as he is to
Shakespeare ; he says in his Lives of the Poets that
"To this poem" ("The Chase") "praise cannot
totally be denied • • • and though it is impossible
to interest the common readers of verse in the
dangers and pleasures of the chase, he has done all
that transition and variety could easily effect."
Although Somerville outlived this characteristic
criticism for some time, he has very few readers to-
day, possibly few more than those who come across
quotations from *' The Chase " in Hundley Cross.
Of songs and verses about Fox-hunting there
are many. The late Mr. Bromley Davenport has
made two contributions which may not be very
widely known, but are, nevertheless, classics in
their own sphere. It is impossible for any Fox-
hunter to read the ^* Dream of an old Meltonian "
without a thrill :
Last night in St. Stephen^s so wearily sittuig
(The Member for Boreham sustahied the Debate),
Some pitying spirit that round me was flitting
Vouchsafed a sweet vision my pains to abate.
HUNTING THE FOX 188
The Maoe and the Speaker and House disappearing,
The leather-clad bench is a thorou^bred horse,
*Tis the whimpering cry of the foxhound Fm hearing,
My ** seat ** is a pigskin at Ranksborough Gorse.
How he heard the voices of his dead friends now
riding by his side, how he got a start, how he rode
his young horse over the Whissendine, how the
bitches raced into their Fox outside Woodwellhead
Covert, all this is told in fifteen throbbing stanzas,
the very best of their kind. There is an exquisite
sense of pace about the whole thing, and a gather-
ing note of triumph that cannot be described in
writing, but can only be felt by reading the epic
itself.
In a different vein, subtle and satirical, is Mr.
Bromley Davenport's " Lowesby Hall," a parody on
Tennyson's "Locksley Hall,*' pronounced by Whs^te-
Melville to be the best parody in the English
language. The burlesque is so fine that, in some
passages, it is hardly distinguishable from the
original. It is as fresh to-day as on the day on
which it was written, and is startling in its pro-
phecies of modem events. There are some shafts
of satire levelled at the Cobdenites and the Radicals,
and that school of thought which we now call
Pacifists :
But the gentle voice of Cobden drowns the fierce invader's
• drum,
And the Frenchmen do but bluster, and Napoleon funks
to come.
184 HUNTING THE FOX
If for Frenchmen you read Germans, and for
Napoleon you read the Kaiser, you have a strange
fSamily likeness to a certain school of thought that
made itself heard before the War. Then comes
more prophecy :
For I looked into its pages and I read the book of Fate,
And saw Fox-hunting abolished by an order from the State.
• ••••••
Saw the landlords yield their acres after centuries of wrongs,
Cotton lords turn country gentlemen in patriotic throngs ;
Queen, religion,' State abandoned, and the flags of party
furled
In the government of Cobden and the dotage of the world.
Nor do the Fox-hunters escape :
HariE, my merry comrades call me, and Jack Morgan blows
his horn,
I, to whom their foolish pastime is an object of my scorn.
Can a sight be more disgusting, more absurd a paradox.
Than to see two hundred people riding at a miserable fox ?
Will his capture on the morrow any satisf^u^on bring ?
I am shamed through all my nature to have done so flat a
thing.
Weakness to be wroth with weakness ! Fm an idiot for
my pains.
Nature gave to every sportsman an inferior set of brains.
This last line is masterly, and was described to the
writer by a good judge of literature who had never
hunted, as the very quintessence of parody on the
author of ** Locksley Hall."
It had not been intended to offer comment in
these pages on the works of any living author*
HUNTING THE FOX 185
But it is irresistible to pay a tribute of sincere
admiration to Mr. Masefield's recent work entitled
Reynard the Fox^ which will take a very prominent
place on the shelves of most hunting libraries.
There has been but one voice among both hunting
and non-hunting people in proclaiming its excel-
lence. Had Dr. Johnson seen it he would have
had to revise his maxim already quoted in this
chapter, that **it is impossible to interest the
common readers of verse in the dangers and
pleasures of the chase." The feelings of the
hunters and the hunted, and in fact the whole spirit
of an English hunting country, have never been so
faithfully portrayed in rhythm and metre. There
has been some discussion among Fox-hunters as
to whether Mr. Masefield has committed any
solecisms in the matter of hunting technique. To
say that he had done so would be to prick spots
upon the sun. Yet the Hounds of Sir Peter Bynd
would surely have been worthy of a place in the
Foxhound Kennel Stud Book, which you may
search from end to end without finding any Hound's
name expressed by a monosyllable, such as **Queen."
The reason of this is that names of a single syllable
do not carry when called out in the field so well as
names of two or three syllables. The names that
are in most general use are what would be described
in terms of prosody as dactyls, spondees, and
trochees. But possibly Mr. Masefield has authority
186 HUNTING THE FOX
for this. Sir Peter would appear to have given the
word to move off from the Meet, and the name of
the covert to be drawn, to his first whipper-in Tom
Dansey, instead of to his Hmitsman, and to have
called Tom by his surname instead of by his
Christian name. Later on the Huntsman also
calls him Dansey. He would surely have called
him Tom. Mr. Masefield also writes of a pink
coat and a crop. Perhaps these words are now
sanctioned by general use. Most of us, however,
who were blooded in the 'seventies, would naturally
talk of a red coat and a whip. Such trifles seem
hardly worth mentioning, and they do not detract
one jot or one tittle from the fame of Mr. Masefield,
who has alone succeeded in writing of Ibl run which
would make even the most bloodthirsty Huntsman
want the Fox to beat the Hounds at the finish.
Perhaps this Fox saved his life because Sir Peter's
Hounds were ^^ great chested '' and ^^ broad in
shoulder,'' and therefore lacking in a sufficient turn
of speed to pull their Fox down in the open. Be
this as it may, the account of the run holds the
reader breathless from find to fijiish, and conveys
an atmosphere of animal and country life in a
manner that can hardly be equalled.
Let us conclude with one who has gone. There
is no writer of Fox-hunting songs whose ring sounds
more merrily than that of Mr. Egerton Warburton
of Arley Hall, a Cheshire squire like Mr. Bromley
HUNTING THE FOX 187
Davenport, and the bard of the Tarporley Hunt.
"The Woore Country," "The Tarporley Hunt,
1888," " The Little Red Rover," and " Tar Wood "
are among the best. But all his songs breathe a
spirit of good-fellowship in the hunting-field and
conviviality in the Club, to the accompaniment of
a jolly jingle of bits, spurs, and claret glasses and
the music of the hunting-horn.
This is in his best manner :
Stags in the forest lie, hares in the valley-o !
Web-footed otters are speared in the lochs ;
Beasts of the chase that are not worth a Tally-ho 1
All are surpassed by the goise-oover fox I
Fishing, though pleasant,
I sing not at present,
Nor shooting the pheasant,
Nor fighting of Cocks ;
Song shall declare a way
How to drive care away,
Pain and despair away.
Hunting the Fox I
THE END
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